UK Politics

The UK has paid migrants £53 million to leave the country over the past four years, The Independent can reveal. Under a voluntary return scheme run by the government, migrants can receive up to £3,000 as an incentive to return to their home country, as part of what are known as “assisted returns”. They also have their flights paid for as part of the deal. Assisted returns have been on the rise in recent years, with 2,179 people travelling home this way in 2022 compared to 6,799 people in 2024. Between 2021 and 2024, 13,637 people have taken an assisted return, according to Home Office data. In the UK, a person can qualify for this money if they are returning to a developing country, are a failed asylum seeker, are a confirmed victim of modern slavery, are sleeping rough or have a medical condition. In 2024, over half of the foreign nationals who accepted assisted returns were from Brazil, with 3,573 taking up the offer. The second highest nationality was India, with 915 people returning in 2024, and then 271 going back to Honduras. The Home Office said assisted voluntary returns are more cost effective than funding accomodation for those awaiting enforced deportaiton More

No decision will be taken on the winter fuel allowance until the Autumn budget – dispelling speculation that the government would make an announcement on it at next week’s spending review. Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour decided to means test the previously universal payment. But weeks later, chaotic government messaging had left millions of pensioners with no idea what the changes will look like or when they will be announced. Asked about the changes, Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, told Sky News: “These issues are going to be dealt with in the run up to the autumn where these decisions are going to be taken and announced. “But this is a spending review that’s going to set the overall spending constraints for government for the next period, the next three years.” Pressed on whether that means no details will be unveiled on winter fuel next week, the technology secretary said: “I think what you’re going to see is the overall spending constraints and allowances for each government department, and then each department is then going to start talking about how it’s going to allocate those.” Last week, Rachel Reeves confirmed the expected U-turn on the controversial cuts would be in place for this winter, meaning that the government will be faced with a scramble to get the changes rolled out between the October budget and the winter months. While the chancellor had previously confirmed that they would not set out how the changes would be paid for until the autumn, there was a growing suggestion from the government that details on who the changes would affect could be set out at next week’s spending review. Peter Kyle told Sky News that details won’t be set out until the budget More

The government is struggling to cut the amount of money from the foreign aid budget it spends on asylum seekers in the UK, new figures show. Home Office figures show the department expects to spend £2.2bn of overseas development assistance (ODA) this financial year, of which £2.1bn is expected to be spent on asylum support. The predictions for this year are only slightly less than the £2.4bn spent in 2024/25. Official development assistance (ODA) – which was slashed earlier this year to 0.3 per cent of GDP to pay for a boost to defence spending – is used to promote the economic development and welfare in developing countries around the world. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper appeared before the Home Affairs committee on Tuesday (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA) More

Zia Yusuf has announced he is returning to Reform UK – just 48 hours after quitting as the party’s chair. The businessman, who said his decision to leave was an error that came as the result of exhaustion, will take up a new role in the party following peace talks with leader Nigel Farage. While his formal title has not been decided, he is expected to lead Reform’s Elon Musk-inspired Doge unit, modelled on the Department of Government Efficiency set up by Donald Trump in the US. Reform’s Doge UK team was set up to identify spending cuts in councils the party now controls and was formally launched this week.Mr Yusuf will also oversee some aspects of policymaking, fundraising and media appearances for the party. A new party chair is expected to be appointed next week and a deputy chair will be hired too.Zia Yusuf says many party members want him to stay More

Labour’s biggest financial backers are piling pressure on Rachel Reeves to avoid making cuts at next week’s spending review and instead pursue wealth taxes to fund Britain’s public services.Polling commissioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reveals a majority the public (54 per cent) back taxes on big corporations and the most wealthy individuals as an alternative means of raising revenue. Just 28 per cent oppose the move. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak urged the government to “stay on track” and build on the “positive start it made at last year’s budget by providing sustained funding for our public services and infrastructure” – warning that people are “fed up with a system where those with the broadest shoulders don’t pull their weight”.It comes after deputy prime minister Angela Rayner pressed Ms Reeves to consider eight wealth taxes rather than try to impose cuts on departments.Sir Keir Starmer is under growing pressure to change course More

Nigel Farage has claimed ex-Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf quit the party having snapped after receiving a “tirade of personal racist abuse” on social media.The Reform leader suggested Mr Yusuf was “burnt out”, saying the “very hard extreme right” was to blame for the abuse he received on social media. Mr Yusuf, a Muslim businessman, left the party on Thursday saying he no longer believes “working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time”. Zia Yusuf has resigned as Reform UK’s chairman (Ben Whitley/PA) More

England is facing a social housing crisis if the government pushes ahead with cuts in the spending review, Rachel Reeves has been warned.It comes as the struggle between the Treasury and Angela Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government over its budget continues, just days before Ms Reeves is set to outline the spending plans until the next election on Wednesday.With no agreement having been reached on housing, the chief executive of one of Britain’s largest housing associations has raised fears of a “cliff edge” over building more homes – which means money is set to run out by 2026.The warning from Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chief executive of L&Q and until last week chair of the G15 group of London housing associations, comes as the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that 51 per cent of councils are now running deficits on their housing budgets.Homeless charities are also warning of an impending crisis, with new supply unable to keep up with increasing demand for social housing.Crisis has pointed out that over the past 10 years, there has been a net loss of more than 180,000 social homes in England. Currently, 1.33 million households in England are currently stuck on council waiting lists for a social home.Ms Fletcher-Smith explained that the problem began with George Osborne’s austerity budgets in 2010, when he slashed 63 per cent of the capital budget to build new homes.She said he then “welched” on a deal to allow them to make up for the loss by charging CPI inflation plus 1 per cent in rent, which housing associations and councils now want restored for a decade. This will allow them to borrow money to build, as it comes through as guaranteed income.The cumulative effect now means that housing associations no longer have the funds to build projects.Building new social housing homes is facing a cliff edge because of a lack of funds More

Robert Jenrick’s attention-grabbing videos have angered other senior Tories as the party desperately tries to raise the profile of their beleaguered leader, Kemi Badenoch. The shadow justice secretary hit the headlines last week thanks to a stunt that saw him chase down and challenge fare dodgers on London trains. The clip, which follows others on a range of issues including bin collections in Birmingham and the government’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, was watched more than 10 million times. But the move overshadowed Ms Badenoch’s own video meeting grooming gang victims, and is far from the first time Jenrick has garnered publicity apparently at the expense of his party leader. A recent mishap, where hundreds of Westminster insiders were added to a WhatsApp group publicising his London marathon run, led to Badenoch being asked if Jenrick, who ran against her for the leadership of the party, posed a fresh threat to her. She laughed it off. But party insiders have told The Independent his interventions are leading to tensions with other members of the shadow cabinet. Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick More