Migrant detentions will begin 'in a matter of days', says Cooper

Migrant detentions will begin 'in a matter of days', says Cooper

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is now joining Sky News Breakfast, discussing a new migration returns deal with France.

She said these new rules will come into force on Wednesday, with detentions expected to begin "in a matter of days".

The "one in, one out" pilot scheme - which allows the UK to send some people who have crossed the Channel back to France in exchange for asylum seekers with ties to Britain - was signed last week.

Cooper said: "The first step will be to be detaining people, because people will be detained until they are removed to France, and we expect those detentions to start in a matter of days. 

"It is a pilot program. It will start with the numbers being lower and then will build up. 

"But I think this is really important the ground breaking principle here is that people can be returned to France if they arrive on these dangerous and illegal small boats. 

"In return, we will take people who have applied legally through a legal process, been through security checks."

Why is it so quiet?

You may have noticed that things are a bit quiet at the minute, and there's good reason.

MPs are currently on recess - meaning they are not in Westminster.

Instead, they have gone back to their constituencies, spreading out across the UK.

Some may be taking holidays, or embarking on other trips and activities they can't usually do when parliament is sitting, and many of them are working on constituency issues.

This means that the usual course of political news - debates, votes, questions, statements, skulduggery - is disrupted somewhat.

There are still political stories going around, but just not ones developing at the pace during "term time".

Parliament is back on 1 September - although only for a fortnight, as on 16 September they break up again for the party conference season.

Badenoch denies Tory responsibility for asylum backlog

The Conservatives have no responsibility for the asylum backlog, Kemi Badenoch has said after protests were held outside hotels where asylum seekers are housed.

Speaking in Essex, Badenoch was asked whether the party was "partly" to blame for the immigration and asylum situation.

She replied: "No I don't accept that at all, because what Labour are doing is just rubber-stamping all of the applications and saying they're processing.

"We need to make sure that when people come to our country illegally, they are deported.

"That is our policy. And what we're seeing right now is an explosion in the use of these hotels because Labour have failed to stop the boats.

"The reason why they've failed to stop the boats is because they have scrapped the only deterrent that this country had, which was the Rwanda plan."

Returns deal with France won't 'make any difference whatsoever', says Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch has doubled down on her assertion that the UK's returns agreement with France won't "make any difference whatsoever".

The Conservative leader was asked about the policy, which allows the UK to send some people who have crossed the Channel back to France in exchange for asylum seekers with ties to Britain.

She said: "Fifty, at best, migrants being swapped with France is not gonna stop the boats. 

"The thing that would stop the boat was a deterrent. 

"The Rwanda Plan, which we had, processing people in a third country, and if they got asylum, keeping them there, is what would have stopped people trying to come to the UK to claim benefits. 

"There are many people who are claiming asylum who are not asylum seekers, and we need to make sure that those who arrive illegally are deported."

Badenoch went on to claim that Labour have no plans for how to solve the small boats crisis, which has seen upwards of 25,000 people arrive in the UK in 2025.

"They've got no plans. They're now begging France to do a swap. That's not going to solve this problem."

National living wage likely to rise to £12.71 next year, advisory body estimates

The national living wage could rise by as much as 65p an hour next year, an advisory body has estimated, as the terms of its annual review of wage rates were published.

Ministers are determined to deliver "a genuine living wage", according to the Low Pay Commission's (LPC) latest remit for increasing the so-called national living wage – the UK minimum wage for workers aged 21 and older.

At the moment, the national living wage is £12.21 an hour.

The LPC estimates that this will need to increase to £12.71 in 2026 to not fall below two-thirds of median earnings: the threshold which the government expects it to stay above.

But the LPC acknowledged the national living wage could rise to as much as £12.86 an hour, or as little as £12.55 an hour, depending on changing economic conditions.

Founded in 1997, the advisory body provides recommendations to ministers each autumn regarding how it believes the minimum wage should be changed.

The government ultimately sets minimum wage rates for the following April after this advice.

-SKY NEWS