UK

A Reform UK councillor has been suspended from Nigel Farage’s party over a WhatsApp group where a member allegedly called for a “mass Islam genocide”.Tom Pickup, one of Reform’s lead councillors in Lancashire, is now facing an investigation.The group, thought to have been set up by a right-wing activist, saw one member message that Sir Keir Starmer “needs a f***ing bullet”, to which another replied: “He’s a DICKtator.”Mr Pickup responded by calling the prime minister a “dicktaker”, according to The Guardian. Reform UK has suspended the councillor and he is now facing an investigation More

Wes Streeting has suggested that he would not feel “comfortable” with the idea of deporting families with children from the UK under Labour’s latest crackdown on migrants.The health secretary said that “the number of forced removals should be low” as part of Shabana Mahmood’s controversial asylum reforms unveiled earlier this week. The home secretary set out a raft of changes to the asylum system on Monday, including plans to remove families with children with no right to be in the UK by force if necessary. The party’s toughened stance aimed at cutting the number of people entering the UK via irregular routes, such as small boats, faced a backlash within the party, including from Labour peer and refugee from the Nazis Lord Alf Dubs, who accused Ms Mahmood of using “children as a weapon”.Asked about the prospect of removing families with children, Mr Streeting told LBC that the number of forced removals “should be low”. Pushed later on whether he was comfortable with the prospect, he added: “Honestly? Comfortable? No. But is it the right thing to do for the country? Yes.” The plans will also apply to children born in the UK to parents who have no right to be in the country. Officials said children would be required to leave the country with their parents if their refugee status is revoked, The Times reported.Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said attention has been diverted away from neighbourhood policing More

The government has been accused of “fuelling an arms race of dangerous interceptions” that could “turn the Channel into a graveyard” after it emerged that French police will use large nets to stop small boat crossings – despite warnings that such tactics could put lives at risk.France has been under mounting pressure from the UK to reduce the number of small boats Channel crossings, with Labour ramping up its efforts to deter people from making the crossings in a fresh crackdown this week. In July, the French government said it intended to revise its maritime laws to allow for vessel interceptions, but the proposal was postponed over fears that it might endanger lives.It has now come to light, however, that since the spring several French law-enforcement officers have been issued “arresting nets” that, according to a source familiar with the development, can be deployed both in efforts to curb illegal immigration and in operations targeting drug trafficking.MPs and campaign groups have condemned the action, with Amnesty describing the revelations as “profoundly disturbing” and Refugee Action saying the plans are “violent, reckless and will undoubtedly increase the risk of people dying”. Labour MP Nadia Whittome said the use of nets is an “extreme, inhumane policy that will put lives at risk”, and Rachael Maskell said she is “deeply troubled” by the reports. People thought to be migrants on board a small boat in Gravelines, France More

Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out freezing income tax thresholds at next week’s Budget, which could result in people paying more tax by “stealth”.At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir declined to answer a number of questions from opposition leader Kemi Badenoch on the issue of threshold freezes. His refusal to answer came after chancellor Rachel Reeves had been expected to breach Labour’s manifesto promises and increase income tax as part of her plans to plug the gap in the public finances. The chancellor is instead widely expected to raise other taxes on 26 November.Additionally, frozen tax thresholds could be used to raise more money for the Treasury, in effect rising taxes by stealth. Even if income tax rates are not increased, people could end up paying more tax as a result of the freezes.The tax-free personal allowance was frozen at £12,570 until 2028 by the previous Conservative government. Freezing tax thresholds can create what economists call “fiscal drag” – more people are pulled into higher tax brackets as average earnings increase, but the thresholds stay the same.Rachel Reeves will deliver the Budget next week More

The prime minister of Albania has accused home secretary Shabana Mahmood of “ethnic stereotyping” after she singled out Albanian families for refusing to return to their homeland in her controversial announcements on asylum this week.Edi Rama was furious that Ms Mahmood had singled out Albanians in her document, and questioned how a Labour minister could “so poorly echo the rhetoric of the populist far right”.The home secretary used the claim that 700 Albanian families avoided deportation, through the right of families to be reunited, as a justification to get rid of the human rights safeguard and water down Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).The home secretary’s announcements on immigration have been met with backlash More

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out a freeze on income tax thresholds in next week’s Budget, as Labour struggles to fill a multi-billion-pound black hole in the nation’s finances. As the government scrambles to find the money from other sources, the prime minister did not rule out forcing many to pay more by continuing to freeze the point at which a higher rate kicks in – the so-called fiscal drag. Leading economists warned the move, which could see the government accused of breaking manifesto promises, risked causing more problems as it “may not calm markets”. It comes after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, last week U-turned on plans for a broader increase in income tax, which spooked the markets. Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out hiking income tax for many by freezing the threshold at which workers pay a higher rate More