NGOs call Home Office ‘unethical’ over £15m offer to help resettle deportees

September182024

The Home Office has been accused of “cynical” and “unethical” behaviour after offering millions of pounds to refugee charities to help settle newly deported people,A government contract put out to tender earlier this month offers to pay £15m over three years to NGOs who work with people being removed from the UK to 11 countries, including Ethiopia, Iraq and Zimbabwe,In August, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, announced a plan to increase removals of those who have had their asylum claims rejected to 2018 levels over the next six months, meaning more than 14,000 deportations by the end of the year,The contract, entitled Home Office Reintegration Programme, asks for bidders from “non-statutory sector organisations that are charities and non-profit making organisations” to help with temporary accommodation, food, and cash assistance once they arrive in their country of origin,Other countries covered by the contract will be Albania, Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan and Vietnam.

Cooper has been sent a letter signed by more than 30 NGO officials from the UK and overseas rejecting the contract,“We stand united against this attempt to make us complicit in the department’s harmful and divisive anti-migrant agenda,” the joint letter said,“We know that policies of deterrence do not work – rather, have been shown time and time again to be divisive and dangerous,”The letter raises concerns about the safety of people removed to countries such as Ethiopia,It says that nearly four in every five Ethiopian asylum applicants – 79% – in the UK in 2023 were granted at first application.

“Pursuing an agenda of removals and deportations will tear communities apart, in the face of overwhelming evidence that a new approach is needed.Many people at risk of removal have lived in the UK for years or even decades, and have put down roots here,” the letter said.The list also includes countries whose nationals have a high rate of having their asylum claims treated as withdrawn.More than half of Albanian people seeking sanctuary in the UK had their asylum claims treated as withdrawn in 2023, meaning they have not had their claims decided under the UK asylum system.Many NGOs have worked closely with the Home Office and applied for government contracts in the past.

Charity executives said that on this occasion, they cannot agree with the practice of working with people who have been removed from the UK.The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) accused the government of attempting to “bribe” NGOs.Mary Atkinson, campaigns and networks manager at the JCWI, said: “Migrants’ rights organisations like ours, and the other signatories to this letter, struggle to get enough funding.“In this context, offering charities millions of pounds to become part of the system putting our clients at risk is cynical and deeply unethical.” Other signatories include Refugee Action, Safe Passage International, Praxis and Migrant Voice.

Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionAfter dropping the Conservative government’s plan to deport people to Rwanda, which cost £700m, Keir Starmer’s government has said it will rapidly increase removals of people who have had their asylum claims rejected,The Home Office plans to increase detention capacity with 290 beds at two immigration removal centres, Campsfield in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, and Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire,It has also emerged that the government has agreed to just one of 33 recommendations made to prevent a repeat of the abuse experienced by people in the Brook House immigration removal centre scandal, the inquiry chair has told the BBC,Kate Eves said the government was failing to listen to her proposals for “urgent change”, a year on from the public inquiry’s final report,A Home Office spokesperson said: “The new government has begun delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to remove people with no right to be in the UK and ensure the rules are respected and enforced.

“Continued international cooperation with partner nations plays a critical role in this, and we will be working closely with a number of countries across the globe,”

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Pound hits highest since March 2022 after UK interest rates are held at 5% – business live

Newsflash: The Bank of England has left UK interest rates on hold.At its latest meeting, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to leave interest rates at 5%, resisting any temptation to cut rates for the second meeting running.The vote means no fresh relief for borrowers (even as defaults on direct debits rise), a day after the US central bank cut its rates for the first time in four years.The decision comes a day after UK inflation stuck at 2.2% in August, above the Bank’s 2% target, with a rise in both core inflation and services inflation

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Bank of England keeps interest rates unchanged at 5%

The Bank of England has kept interest rates unchanged at 5% as it put its efforts to ease the pressure on household budgets on hold.The Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted by a majority of eight to one against launching a back-to-back reduction in borrowing costs amid concerns over lingering inflationary pressures.The Bank last month cut interest rates for the first time since the Covid pandemic was declared four years ago, after a sharp fall in inflation from a peak of more than 11% in late 2022 – the highest level since the early 1980s.Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s governor, said inflationary pressures had continued to ease, but cautioned against expectations for rapid interest rate cuts.The annual rate of inflation remained unchanged at 2

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Google Pixel 9 review: a good phone overshadowed by great ones

Google’s cheapest Pixel 9 offers almost everything that makes its top-flight sibling one of the best smaller phones available, cutting a few key ingredients to price match Apple and Samsung.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The Pixel 9 costs £799 (€899/$799/A$1,349) shaving £200 off the asking price of the stellar Pixel 9 Pro while sitting above the excellent value sub-£500 Pixel 8a from May

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British MPs and international organisations hacked on X

British politicians and international organisations have had their accounts on X hacked on Wednesday night.MPs including Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, and the Labour MPs Chris Elmore and Carolyn Harris all shared the same message on the social media site. Although quickly removed, the messages could still be read on TweetDeck, a dashboard used to manage accounts on X, formerly Twitter.The messages, which also included a lengthy code, said: “THIS IS HACKED ACCOUNT!!!! INTRODUCING HACKED ON SOLANA on each account we hack we publish the token address so we pump it and make profits together.”The message on the justice secretary’s account was posted at 7

September182024

Lancashire v Somerset, Surrey v Durham, and more: county cricket day three – live

Rose Bowl Hampshire 462 (NRT Gubbins 201 no; LA Dawson 109) and 99-5; Worcestershire 273 (EA Brookes 132).Canterbury Nottinghamshire 433 (BT Slater 160); Kent 225 and 196-7.Old Trafford Lancashire 140 and 398 v Somerset 146. Somerset need 393 to winThe Oval Durham 262 and 98-6; Surrey 415 (RS Patel 134).Edgbaston Warwickshire 78 and 114; Essex 232

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England v Australia: first men’s cricket one-day international – live

7th over: England 46-0 (Salt 16, Duckett 29) Half-batter down the ground earns four for Duckett, then a drag-down sits up and beseeches treatment, the batter obliging by carting over square-leg for four more. Two dots follow, but Duckett has his eye in now, the two final balls of the other also whacked to the fence, both at midwicket, making it four fours in the over; England are motoring now.6th over: England 30-0 (Salt 16, Duckett 13) Ricky Ponting, you’ll be unsurprised to learn, does not enjoy Australia’s moustaches, but I guess they pass the time, and in Beardman, the squad now possesses the first facial hair superhero. The first five balls of Dwarshius’ over yield a two and a one, but then Slat steps outside his crease looking for a boundary and chops an edge that races past the stumps and to the fence. Well though Australia have bowled, they’ve not made a breakthrough and the scoring-rate is steadily increasing

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