Labour government says more people working illegally are being arrested and deported – UK politics live

Plans to ban foreign nationals from social housing under a Conservative government have been condemned as “divisive”.

Under proposals revealed on Friday, the party said about ۲۳۰,۰۰۰ homes would become available if foreign nationals were prevented from accessing social housing.

Ending new tenancies for all foreign nationals, as well as current tenancies for couples where neither person is a UK, Irish or EU citizen, would free up an estimated ۲۲۸,۱۴۴ homes for British families, the party said.

Under the plans, tenants in England who do not qualify for the housing would be expected to move out of their homes within six months.

Foreign nationals with settled status, refugee status or specific humanitarian protections currently qualify for social housing. Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing, unless in exceptional circumstances such as domestic abuse cases.

Sarah Elliott, the chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said: “These divisive plans would brutally kick people out of their homes, including thousands of families and pensioners who have lived in them for decades. And let’s not forget that social tenants pay rent, which goes back to the public purse and into society.”

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Primary schools to be told to identify children at risk of future unemployment

Richard Partington

Primary schools in England should be required to identify children at risk of leaving education at ۱۶ without finding a job, a government review is to recommend.

Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into Britain’s crisis in youth worklessness, said he would call for sweeping changes in education policy alongside a shake-up of the benefits system to address the problem.

Speaking to the Guardian, he said ministers needed to “make somebody responsible” for identifying and supporting the children who risked becoming Neet (not in employment, education or training) after their GCSE year up to the age of ۲۴.

“The warning signs are there from a very early, early age. You know, frankly from preschool,” he said.

“So, definitely primary schools should be identifying children who are at risk of being Neet. And secondary schools and other services should be intercepting, intervening, supporting and helping those young people to get on a different path.”

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Morning and welcome to our UK politics blog.

The government said more arrests are being made for illegal working, with Home Office figures showing more than ۱۷,۰۰۰ people have been arrested since the July ۲۰۲۴ general election – more than double the number recorded in the previous two-year period.

Of those arrested, ۲,۳۵۷ people have been deported, according to the Home Office, a ۵۰% increase compared with the number returned between July ۲۰۲۲ and June ۲۰۲۴.

Commenting on those numbers on the media round this morning, the border security and asylum minister Anna Turley said it was “the highest levels in British history”.

“We’re sending a message that if you think you can come to this country and work illegally and disappear off the books, then our immigration enforcement service will find you [and] will arrest you,” she told BBC Radio ۴’s Today programme.

Meanwhile, the Conservative party has pledged to end social housing eligibility for all foreign nationals, saying it would free up almost ۲۳۰,۰۰۰ for British families. Under the proposals, tenants in England who do not qualify would be expected to move out of their homes within six months.

The plans have been described as “divisive” by Sarah Elliott, the chief executive of housing charity Shelter, who said the policy would “brutally kick people out of their homes, including thousands of families and pensioners who have lived in them for decades”.

You can read more on that story here:

Also today:

• Chaos has descended on the Norfolk town of Thetford for a third night in a row as violent anti-immigration protests saw crowds of people attempt to storm a home believed to be housing asylum seekers.

• Norfolk police said two men in their ۴۰s were arrested last night while some of the asylum seekers had to be escorted from homes as a result of the unrest. Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme, Norfolk chief constable Paul Sanford said officers were “subjected to significant aggression”, with one hit with a rock, one bitten and another spat at.

• The government is also under pressure to review the potential early release of two of the men who killed PC Andrew Harper. Det Supt Stuart Blaik, who led the investigation in ۲۰۱۹, told the BBC he was “deeply concerned and appalled” by the prospect and that Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers could be freed halfway through their ۱۳-year sentences.