Jon Featonby

the Committee raised concerns that the "Home Office’s policymaking too frequently reacting to events, rather than proceeding from rigorous analysis and supported by evidence." Which is something a lot of people would probably agree with.

The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has been pretty scathing about the quality of evidence and arguments supporting the pause in refugee family reunion applications publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld....

They fought with Britain and US in Afghanistan – now Taliban is taking its revenge After the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, Britain pledged sanctuary to Afghans who faced reprisals for working with UK forces – but thousands are still waiting. Now, as Britain drags its heels, we ...

It’s hard to believe that 4 years on from the fall of Kabul, Afghans who served with UK troops are still waiting to be relocated to safety

Now a painstaking analysis by @lighthousereports.com and partners reveals the extent of the peril they're facing, with 110+ ex-security forces killed since 2023

The more one knows about this case, the more confusing it becomes. The CPS insists on further evidence it does not require, and the government insists it could not give that evidence, even though it could. Neither side makes sense, and together they make no sense absolutely.

NEW

Trying to make sense of the nonsensical decision to drop the Chinese spying prosecutions

How the positions of neither the CPS nor the government stand up to scrutiny

By me

emptycity.substack.com/p/trying-to-...

This letter from the Home Office to the Home Affairs Select Committee confirms how ridiculously expensive putting people seeking asylum in hotels is compared to housing in communities. It costs more than six times as much. And large sites aren't much better committees.parliament.uk/publications...

Italy-Albania migrant deal: Millions spent, few results Migrants were detained in Albanian centres under an Italy-Albania deal, managed by the Medihospes cooperative on a €133m contract, but legal, operational, and ethical issues persist, an investigation reveals.

Migrants were detained in Albanian centres under an Italy-Albania deal, managed by the Medihospes cooperative on a €133m contract, but legal, operational, and ethical issues persist, an investigation reveals.

the numbers are also really small. 329 applications in the year to June 2025, which was actually a reduction on the 12 months before.

Digital ID - Hansard - UK Parliament Hansard record of the item : 'Digital ID' on Monday 13 October 2025.

Government statement to MPs on digital ID yesterday evening. "Tackling illegal immigration" carefully positioned as the third of three reasons to do it, and even then "not a silver bullet" hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...

Here's the parliamentary statement outlining the changes (haven't seen the detail yet) questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

There’s a statement of changes to the immigration rules on today’s Commons order paper commonsbusiness.parliament.uk/Document/978...

I asked Chris Philip this.
- the last govt passed laws saying those who came without permission could not claim asylum
- the government cleared a backlog well, but then ceased to process claims in the last year.
- they had 60,000 people in hotels. Surely over 50k of them were never going to Rwanda?

John Tuckett appointed as new ICIBI The Home Secretary has today announced John Tuckett's appointment as Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI).

John Tuckett has been confirmed as the new Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, around 10 months since his pre-appointment hearing with the Home Affairs Select committee www.gov.uk/government/n...

Interesting: Leaving the #ECHR would be a grave mistake, writes former UK Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland KC👇

🔗 conservativehome.com/2025/10/05/r... via @conservativehome.bsky.social

Moving to large scale sites won’t save money. The last government tried and it ended up costing more with people housed in unsuitable places. The cheaper and faster way to get out of hotels is to give leave to people who will either eventually get it anyway or who can’t be removed.

Kemi Badenoch asked where she would send the 150,000 people she says she would deport every year, replies that it's an "irrelevant question".

Front-page headline on the Sunday Express: "Tory ICE force would deport 150.000 a year"

Yes, that's what we need, marauding gangs of masked Trumpist thugs tearing neighbourhoods apart and grabbing anyone they think looks foreign

Ending the use of hotels to house people seeking asylum - Refugee Council New analysis outlines how the UK can responsibly end the use of asylum hotels within a year through a secure, practical solution.

Granting leave to people who will either end up getting it or who can’t be removed anyway would free up enough capacity to close the hotels in around 6 months. Granting leave to people from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria would do it www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stay-informe...

All the options discussed involve trying to find alternative accommodation. The last government tried that- it’s either too expensive, completely inappropriate or there’s not enough of it. Our @refugeecouncil.bsky.social proposal would give c.30,000 people leave, letting them get on with their lives

How Will Labour Meet Its Promise To Close Asylum Hotels? After a summer of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, the government is under renewed pressure to find alternative accommodation. What ...

This @politicshome.bsky.social article on how the Government can end the use of hotels in the asylum system misses the cheapest and quickest option - making quick grants of leave to reduce demand www.politics home.com/news/article/asylum-seeker-hotels-accommodation-military-sites

There are plenty of ways to humanely control British borders. So why isn’t Keir Starmer using them? | Enver Solomon Labour’s incoherent asylum policies are vilifying refugees. A better and more compassionate route is possible, says the Refugee Council’s Enver Solomon

@enversol.bsky.social states this so coherently

“It doesn’t matter if that woman works two jobs, attends evening classes, studies for a degree and raises British children who become hard-working, tax-paying members of society. It will never be enough.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Text: Golden ticket claim Sir, Further to your report “Starmer promises to end asylum seekers’ golden ticket to UK” (Oct 2), to people who have been persecuted, tortured or seen family members killed in brutal wars or by despots, asylum is a lifeline. Talk of them having a golden ticket risks overlooking this fundamental reality and promoting the corrosive myth that the UK gets more refugees than other countries in Europe or the wider world. Ninety per cent of refugee family reunion visas go to women and children. Further restrictions on these visas would risk closing one of the few safe and legal routes to the UK for women and children who need protection. This would be good, if not golden, news for the people smugglers. Enver Solomon CEO, Refugee Council

Letter from @enversol.bsky.social in Times today

#ECREWeekly Updates on UK:
▪️Launch of ‘One in, one out’ people transfer scheme
▪️Channel crossings and deaths
▪️Lawyers and NGOs call out threats from far-right
▪️NGOs urge the government to stop scapegoating people on the move
▪️Migration and asylum-related policy announcements

shorturl.at/4sgMp

That will be very interesting! And congratulations on getting a response to an FOI

I went to a Right to Remain event last week where a few people who were directly affected by the sudden closure of the refugee family reunion route spoke about the impact on them and their children, it was incredibly distressing to hear. Families should be together! This is not okay!

Starmer to end asylum ‘golden ticket’ of resettlement and family reunion rights People granted asylum will have to earn right to invite family in plan charities call ‘straight from populist playbook’

The idea that being a refugee is somehow a “golden ticket” is genuinely awful. These are people who the government have recognised are in need of protection. Do they think people chose that? That that’s what people wanted?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

'BritCard' digital ID will be made law for all adults in bid to tackle small boats No 10 believes a mandatory ID card system will help stop illegal immigrants working

"One of the “pull factors” of small boat migration is believed to be promises by traffickers that it is easy to find work on the black market"

Genuinely interested to understand the logic that thinks ID cards mean people wouldn't be exploited through the black market.

inews.co.uk/news/politic...

It does annoy me that the Home Office continue to publish daily stats on channel crossings yet haven't updated the appeal stats since March 2023, but...

What they do show is it's been a relatively quiet summer - and as of 23 Sep there had been more crossings in 2022 than at the same point in 2025.

It remains the case that if the asylum claims of those crossing the channel were processed, the majority (around 6 in 10 at initial decision) would be granted.

For clarity, the people being sent back to France haven’t have their asylum claims rejected, they haven’t been refused. Their claims have been deemed inadmissible to the UK’s asylum system.