UK Politics

The justice secretary has said that many sentencing reforms aimed at easing prison overcrowding have been accepted by the government, including chemical castration for sex offenders.Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday (22 May), Shabana Mahmood said 20 prisons will pilot the scheme, which aims to reduce the risk of reoffending.“Of course, it is vital that this approach is taken alongside psychological interventions that target other causes of offending, power and control,” she said.It was one of 48 recommendations put forward by former justice secretary David Gauke to ensure there is space in prisons for the most dangerous offenders.She also accepted reforms to allow some criminals, including violent and sexual offenders, to be released at an earlier point in their sentence if they show good behaviour.“If they follow prison rules, they will earn an earlier release. If they do not, they will be locked up for longer,” she said, though stressed that terrorists and the most dangerous offenders will not be eligible.Ms Mahmood also announced that the government will scrap the use of short sentences of less than 12 months, and that the Probation Service will also receive a funding boost of up to £700m by 2028/29. More

Net migration to the UK almost halved last year, new figures have revealed, sparking concerns over a worker shortage in the UK.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 948,000 people came to Britain in 2024, with 519,000 leaving in the year to December 2024.The 431,000 net migration figure is around half the 860,000 level seen a year earlier, driven by a fall in non-EU workers and students coming to the UK, and marks the largest fall on record. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced his immigration reform plans earlier this month More

Angela Rayner wanted cuts to the benefits migrants can claim as an alternative to Labour’s plans to cut the welfare budget for thousands of disabled people, a leaked memo suggests. In what appears to be a briefing war by sources in the Treasury against the deputy prime minister, the revelations show that Ms Rayner was at odds with Chancellor Rachel Reeves.The memo, which first appeared in the Daily Telegraph, shows that Ms Rayner wanted to restrict recently arrived legal migrants’ access to pensions and benefits, and reconsider whether they should pay more to access NHS services.Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner More

A top Romanian court on Thursday rejected as unfounded a request to annul the presidential election by the hard-right candidate who decisively lost the race to his pro-European Union opponent on Sunday.After deliberations on Thursday, Romania’s Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the annulment request, filed on Tuesday by George Simion, in which he alleged that foreign interference and coordinated manipulation affected the vote. Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the hard-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians had conceded defeat after losing in the runoff to Nicusor Dan, the Bucharest mayor who obtained 53.6% of the vote, a margin of more than 829,000 votes. More

Serious sex offenders could face mandatory chemical castration under plans set to be agreed by the justice secretary to help ease overcrowded prisons.It comes as a review has suggested that sex offenders and violent criminals could be freed from prison after serving half their sentence under radical plans to overhaul the justice system.The recommendations from former Tory justice secretary David Gauke could see criminals who have committed violent or sexual crimes, and are sentenced to more than four years, released on parole at the halfway point.Under the plans inspired by reforms in Texas, well-behaved prisoners serving sentences of less than four years could also be released after a third of their term in a bid to free up much-needed space in overcrowded jails.And the government is considering expanding a trial from some prisons in south west England to use voluntary chemical castration to cut reoffending among sexual offenders. Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood is also considering making the chemical castration mandatory.Mr Gauke said drugs that help “reduce sexual desire” among the offenders could cut the risk of reoffending.The review was commissioned by Ms Mahmood after she was forced to release thousands of prisoners in her first few weeks of government to “avert disaster” and ensure prisons did not run out of space.Mr Gauke, whose recommendations were published on Thursday, insisted the scale of the overcrowding crisis means the reforms are essential so that the justice system moves away from an “overreliance on custody”. Former justice secretary David Gauke More

Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to break the deadlock with the European Union over post-Brexit youth visas, amid calls for a deal to be struck within weeks. The government failed to agree on a scheme to allow 18-35-year-olds to come and work in the UK, and vice versa, as part of its landmark agreement to “reset” relations with the bloc this week. However, despite the setback, the two sides did agree to continue negotiations. Now, the UK’s former ambassador to France has called for the UK to make the EU an “improved” offer to achieve a breakthrough. The UK and the EU have signed a deal to ‘reset’ relations after Brexit More

Sir Keir Starmer has been forced into a dramatic U-turn over the government’s controversial winter fuel payment cuts after months of mounting anger from voters and Labour MPs. In a major climbdown over Rachel Reeves’ decision to strip payments from 10 million pensioners, the prime minister said he wanted to look at widening eligibility “as the economy improves”. But No 10 refused to say whether the changes would be in place by this winter – or who would be affected – meaning cash-strapped pensioners could face another winter of misery. Keir Starmer has U-turned on the controversial policy More

The UK and allies from 10 countries have exposed what they say is a campaign of malicious cyber activity by Russia against logistics and tech firms involved in delivering foreign assistance to Ukraine.The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is part of GCHQ, said a unit within the Russian intelligence service, GRU, had targeted defence organisations, as well as IT services, maritime, airports, ports and air traffic management systems firms in a range of Nato countries.The UK, along with the US, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France and Netherlands have signed and published an advisory on the issue to raise awareness of the campaign.The NCSC said the attacks had been targeting both public and private organisations since 2022, and had focussed on those involved in the co-ordination, transport and delivery of support to Ukraine, as well as trying to hack internet-connected cameras at Ukrainian border crossings and near military bases in an effort to track aid shipments.GRU Unit 26165 – also known as APT 28 – is said to have gained access to some networks using a range of techniques, including guessing log-in credentials and spear-phishing – where specific individuals or organisations are targeted in an effort to gain access to a network.Paul Chichester, NCSC director of operations, said: “This malicious campaign by Russia’s military intelligence service presents a serious risk to targeted organisations, including those involved in the delivery of assistance to Ukraine.“The UK and partners are committed to raising awareness of the tactics being deployed.“We strongly encourage organisations to familiarise themselves with the threat and mitigation advice included in the advisory to help defend their networks.”Earlier this week, the Government announced 100 new sanctions on Russia, as part of its ongoing support of Ukraine.The measures are aimed at “ramping up pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military, energy exports and information war, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.They will target the supply chains of weapons, including Iskander missiles which have been fired into civilian areas during the war. More