UK

The public’s trust in politicians is eroding due to the failure to grip the migrant crisis, the home secretary is to warn.Shabana Mahmood is to issue the warning as she hosts her counterparts from across the Western Balkans, as well as other European allies, in London.She will go on to insist that Britain can only stem the flow of migrants arriving on small boats through international co-operation.The summit is aimed at ensuring European nations strike new deals to tackle illegal migration.At the gathering, the home secretary will say: “The public rightly expect that their government will be able to determine who enters their country, and who must leave.“Today, in this country, and I know in many if not all of yours, that is not the case.“And the failure to bring order to our borders is eroding trust not just in us as political leaders… But in the credibility of the state itself.”She is also expected to hit out at the government’s political opponents, such as Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, accusing them of wanting to “turn inwards” and seek solutions to migration without the aid of other countries.“Illegal migration is a shared threat which requires a strong, joined-up international response,” Ms Mahmood will say.She will add: “To those who think the answer to the challenges that we face is to turn inwards, or back away from international co-operation, I say that in coming together as we are today we will make all of our borders and our countries stronger.The summit is aimed at ensuring European nations strike new deals to tackle illegal migration More

Authorities have seized $15bn (£11.3bn) worth of bitcoin and a string of luxury London properties in a joint UK-US crackdown on criminal masterminds behind romance scam centres in south-east Asia.The bitcoin confiscated by US investigators is the largest seizure in the history of the Department of Justice.A multi-million mansion and office block in the City of London are among 19 UK properties also being seized as the two governments issue sanctions on a gang that runs such scam centres on an industrial scale.The network operates by luring people into fake romantic relationships online before tricking victims out of their savings.But the people conducting the scams are often trafficked foreign nationals, forced to carry out online fraud under threat of torture.£12m mansion included in the sanctions More

Digital ID plans are “frankly creepy”, a Conservative shadow minister has warned, as he called for “evidence” that a new system will help crack down on illegal working.Shadow science minister Viscount Camrose warned that the Government’s argument for rolling out a digital ID system was “too optimistic to be convincing”.Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told MPs earlier this week that the plan was “about giving people greater agency over their lives”.She said these digital identity cards meant data was “much less likely to be lost or stolen”, and added that a pub punter might be “able to prove you’re over 18 without even showing your exact birthday”, with privacy “hardwired into the system from the start”.Ms Kendall also said the scheme would “deliver greater fairness by showing exactly who has the right to work here in the UK”.Responding in the Lords, Viscount Camrose said: “If allowed to become legislation, the electorate risks being subject to an extraordinary expansion of state power, one that comes not only at the expense of personal freedom, but at great cost to the taxpayer.”He called for “evidence” that digital IDs would meet the Government’s objectives, and added: “Criminal gangs and illegal workers already operate outside formal employment and taxation systems.“They don’t care about paperwork or credentials. They work illegally beyond the reach of existing regulation.“They subvert existing national insurance requirements.“So, why would we expect digital ID to be different?”The viscount told peers the scheme was “untested”, with the Government’s view “too optimistic to be convincing”.He added that the proposal was “vast in its objectives, slight in its detail, and frankly creepy in its reach into our privacy”.Viscount Camrose said: “Better online services do not require a centralised identity regime.“We already have mechanisms such as right-to-work checks and DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) verification.”Liberal Democrat science spokesman Lord Clement-Jones described the early-stage plans as “another fundamental error by this Government”.He added: “The core issue here is not technology, but freedom.”But Lord Patrick Vallance defended the plans, arguing that digital ID would be mandatory “only for right-to-work checks”.He said this was a “very narrow use for a very specific purpose”.Lord Vallance, the former government chief scientific adviser and now science minister, continued: “But we have always believed and continue to believe that there are huge upsides to a digitally enabled society, one where everyone feels able to participate, everyone feels a sense of agency, and everyone’s lives are made easier by a digital key that does indeed unlock access to services.”The Labour peer also said: “In countries where digital ID is well established, the private sector has built a wide range of services around it, making everyday tasks like open banking, renting a flat, applying for a mortgage all faster, simpler and more secure.“But that is not a mandatory use of this – the required use is for right to work.” More

Rachel Reeves has been delivered yet another major blow in the run-up to her make-or-break Budget next month, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that UK inflation is set to surge to the highest in the G7 in 2025 and 2026.The beleaguered chancellor has already struggled to foster the economic growth she promised when Labour was elected last year, and the latest outlook report suggests that UK households are expected to face the highest rate of price inflation among the G7 group of advanced economies, driven in part by rising food and hospitality prices.The influential economic body said price inflation in the UK would increase more sharply than expected in both years compared with previous predictions from July. It expects UK inflation to average at 3.4 per cent in 2025, increasing from its previous prediction of 3.2 per cent.The forecasts also show that UK inflation is expected to slow slightly to 2.5 per cent next year, but this is nonetheless above the 2.3 per cent prediction from earlier this year. But it also came as the IMF increased its UK growth forecast for this year, while reducing its prediction for 2026 amid concerns over the labour market.The IMF’s report, which has been described as “grim”, casts doubt on the Bank of England’s hopes of bringing interest rates back down to the 2 per cent target rate in the near future.A higher interest rate could also increase the size of the black hole in the public finances, already estimated to be between £30bn and £40bn, by adding pressure to increase pensions in line with the triple lock guarantee, as well as upping the risk of public sector pay demands.The IMF’s latest report comes hours after a group of leading economists described Ms Reeves’s situation as “desperate”, with the UK running a structural deficit, and a row taking place within Labour over whether to impose wealth taxes or break the manifesto pledge to hike income tax, VAT or employee national insurance.Rachel Reeves has already struggled to foster the economic growth she promised when Labour was elected More

Migrants will need A-level standard English to work in the UK, under plans announced by the new home secretary. Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to raise the standard of English required from the current lower grade GCSE standard to the equivalent of A-level in speaking, listening, reading and writing.Ms Mahmood said it was “unacceptable” for migrants to come to the UK “without learning our language”, claiming they were “unable to contribute to our national life”. Migrants wanting to come to the UK on the skilled worker, high potential individual or scale-up visa routes will have to demonstrate they can speak B2 level English – equivalent to A-level standard – from 8 January 2026. This is up from the B1 level already required for these routes. To come to the UK on the skilled worker visa, migrants have to have a minimum annual salary of £41,700 or earn the “going rate” for their type of work, whichever is highest. On the high potential visa, applicants must have been awarded either a university degree, masters or PhD. The scale-up route is used for UK businesses that are fast-growing and need to hire foreign workers. Only 116 scale-up visas were issued in the year ending June 2025. Increased language requirements will also be announced for other visa routes, including dependents, soon, the Home Office said. Changes to the English language requirement were first reported in May when the government published their early plans in the immigration white paper. The new standard requires people to express themselves “fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expression” and to be able to communicate flexibly in social, academic and work situations. Migrants wanting to come to the UK under these routes will have to pass a language test conducted by a Home Office-approved provider. According to the government’s impact assessment of the policy changes, which was published on Tuesday, an increase in English standards would result in an estimated decrease of between 400 and 1,500 visa applicants in 2026-7. This was modelled across the skilled worker, health and care worker and high potential individual routes.Home secretary Shabana Mahmood is also set to introduce higher language requirements for other visa routes too More

Chinese hackers pose a “highly sophisticated and capable” threat to the UK, GCHQ’s cyber security agency has warned.The warning came after the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recorded a 50% increase in “highly significant” online incidents carried out by criminals and state-linked groups in the year to the end of August.The attacks on household names including Marks and Spencer, Co-op and Jaguar Land Rover have shown the real world impact of cyber attacks, the NCSC said.At the launch of the NCSC’s annual review, security minister Dan Jarvis said all Britons must “step up” and play their part in protecting the country online.He said: “Cyber crime is one of the greatest threats to our economy, to our businesses, to the livelihoods of our workers and while the Government is providing more cyber security support, we cannot do it alone.“We need businesses to lead the way, by making cyber security a top priority.“And we need citizens to step up and take personal responsibility for their cyber safety.”He warned that “any syndicate of cowards hiding behind keyboards can have a devastating impact” and they are “just as happy hacking the NHS and nurseries as they are multibillion-pound companies”.As well as online criminals launching ransomware attacks to demand money from firms or individuals, the UK is also targeted by hostile states – either directly or through groups operating at arms-length from the authorities in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and Pyongyang.The NCSC’s annual review said: “State actors continue to present a significant threat to UK and global cyber security, aided by an evolving cyber intrusion sector.“As threats intensified, our incident management team faced a record number of nationally significant incidents.”The report said:– China is a “highly sophisticated and capable threat actor, targeting a wide range of sectors and institutions across the globe, including the UK”.– Russia is a “capable and irresponsible threat actor in cyberspace”, while pro-Moscow “hacktivist” groups operating outside formal state control are seeking to target the UK, Europe, US, and other Nato countries in retaliation for western support for Ukraine and Israel.– Iran’s activity has largely been focused in the Middle East but the NCSC assesses it is “highly likely” that UK entities could be potential targets for Tehran-linked hackers, following a US warning that Iranian state-sponsored or affiliated cyber activity could threaten critical infrastructure.– North Korea’s “prolific and capable” hacking activity mainly seeks to raise revenue, to collect intelligence and to offset the impact of international sanctions, while undercover IT workers from Kim Jong Un’s country are “almost certainly” targeting UK firms by posing as third-country freelance staff.NCSC chief Richard Horne said: “We know that our adversaries are combining cyber means with physical methods in order to further their aims.“Just last month, agencies from 13 nations came together to warn that three technology companies based in China have conducted a malicious global cyber campaign targeting critical networks on behalf of their host nation.”As well as that warning in August this year, the NCSC and allies in September 2024 exposed a covert network operated by a China-linked company called Integrity Technology Group or Flax Typhoon, which had a botnet consisting of 260,000 compromised devices around the world.The NCSC’s experts are also worried about hostile states “pre-positioning” for attacks on infrastructure, including by embedding IT workers who could strike against targets at short notice.The NCSC’s report comes with the risk posed by China to the UK under intense political scrutiny following the collapse of an alleged spying case and with a ruling due on Beijing’s application to build a massive new embassy in the heart of London.The NCSC report warned that hackers – including those with links to Beijing – were using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the potency of their attacks.“Actors linked to China, Russia, Iran and the DPRK are using large language models to evade detection, support reconnaissance, process exfiltrated data, access systems through social engineering, and support vulnerability research and exploit development,” the NCSC warned.In the year to the end of August, the NSCS provided support in 429 cases, of which 204 were deemed “nationally significant incidents” – an increase from 89 in the previous 12 months.Of those, 18 were categorised as “highly significant”, meaning they had a serious impact on government, essential services, the economy or a large proportion of the UK population. More

Rachel Reeves has been warned by some of the country’s leading experts that she has no choice but to raise major taxes and reform others in the upcoming Budget if she is to turn Britain’s “desperate” economic situation around. The chancellor is facing a black hole of up to £50bn and is widely expected to hike levies next month, but she has been warned she cannot afford to tinker at the margins “by picking from a Scrabble bag” of smaller tax increases. Leading tax expert Dan Neidle, the founder of Tax Policy Associates, said the “wise” way for Ms Reeves to increase taxes would be “raising one of the main taxes, possibly by expanding the base of VAT, which may or may not break a manifesto pledge”.He warned that the “less wise way to do it is by picking from a Scrabble bag of lots of little tax rises”. Economists have repeatedly warned Ms Reeves in recent months that a combination of Labour U-turns, higher borrowing and sluggish economic growth means she must raise taxes or tear up her flagship borrowing rules.But last month, she suffered another blow after the official Budget watchdog looked to downgrade a key economic performance indicator – a move that could also drive tax hikes. Mr Neidle also called for reform to the tax system to make it more pro-growth, warning the situation had become “quite desperate”, as he gave evidence to the Commons Treasury committee. Rachel Reeves faces tough decisions if she is to turn Britain’s economic fortunes around More

The government’s treatment of trans people in the UK could breach the European Convention on Human Rights, a human rights expert has warned.Michael O’Flaherty, commissioner for human rights for the Council of Europe, said new guidance in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling on trans people must not leave them in an “intermediate zone … as not quite one gender or the other”. In a letter to Sarah Owen, chair of parliament’s women and equalities committee, and David Alton, chair of the joint committee on human rights, Mr O’Flaherty said lawmakers in the UK have viewed “the human rights of different groups as a zero-sum game”.The watchdog also says a debate about trans rights should not detract from efforts to stop violence against women and girls More