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Members of a coronavirus campaign group will be able to attend the Conservative Party conference after initially having their application rejected.

COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, made up of 4,000 people who have lost a loved one to the virus, hit out after being told its members would not be allowed into next month’s event in Manchester.

But Sky News understands from a Conservative Party source that the group has been told it can in fact go and that the initial rejection was an error that was changed once it was reviewed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers his speech during the Conservative Party Conference at the Manchester Convention Centre.
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Boris Johnson, pictured in 2019, and the Tories will return to Manchester for their party conference next month

Reacting to the news, Lobby Akinnola, a spokesperson for the group, said: “The Conservative Party has just U-turned and decided that we can in fact attend their party conference.

“Their initial decision to disallow bereaved families from attending was disgraceful, and we hope that there is a genuine acknowledgement of that and that they are prepared to work with us.

“Laughably, they’ve claimed the initial decision was ‘an error’. Funny that the error wasn’t spotted when we initially asked for an explanation for the decision, and only when the news broke in the media.

“Unfortunately it seems that we keep having to correct government ‘errors’, which is exactly why they need to start engaging with bereaved families and stop trying to avoid us.”

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Ms Akinnola said earlier that the initial rejection was “deeply upsetting for families who are already in grief”.

The group said it wanted to attend the Tory conference in Manchester so party members, MPs and ministers could “hear our stories and work with us to learn lessons and stop more families from experiencing the same tragedies that we have”.

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It said that when it had first sought an explanation from the Tories the party said it does not comment on the “reasons behind an individual’s or group’s unsuccessful conference application”.

COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, which has been calling for a planned public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic to begin sooner, said “not a single” minister has met with the group so far.

The campaign group will be attending the Labour Party’s conference in Brighton, which begins this Sunday.

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League table of foreign criminals awaiting deportation and their offences set to be published

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League table of foreign criminals awaiting deportation and their offences set to be published

A league table of foreign criminals and their offences is set to be published for the first time.

The plans, due to be announced on Tuesday, will reportedly focus on those offenders awaiting deportation from the UK.

The latest data shows there were 19,244 foreign offenders awaiting deportation at the end of 2024, a rise from 17,907 when the Conservatives left office in July and 14,640 at the end of 2022.

Despite more offenders being deported since Labour came to power, the number waiting to be removed from the UK has been growing.

Factors are understood to include the early release of inmates due to prison overcrowding, instability and diplomatic problems in some countries and a backlog of legal cases appealing deportation.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the decision to publish the nationalities of foreign criminals showed Labour had “buckled” under pressure from the Conservatives to disclose the data.

The latest government statistics show there were 10,355 foreign nationals held in custody in England and Wales at the end of 2024, representing 12% of the prison population.

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The most common nationalities after British nationals were Albanian (11%), Polish (8%), Romanian (7%), which also represented the top three nationalities who were deported from the UK in 2024, according to Home Office figures.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to have ordered officials to release the details by the end of the year, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The newspaper reported Ms Cooper overruled Home Office officials, who previously claimed it was too difficult to provide quality data on foreign criminals.

A Home Office source said: “Not only are we deporting foreign criminals at a rate never seen when Chris Philp and Robert Jenrick were in charge at the Home Office, but we will also be publishing far more information about that cohort of offenders than the Tories ever did.”

The source added that ministers wanted “to ensure the public is kept better informed about the number of foreign criminals awaiting deportation, where they are from and the crimes they have committed”.

In March, the government announced £5m in funding to deploy staff to 80 jails in England and Wales to speed up the deportation of foreign offenders.

Read more from Sky News:
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Foreign nationals sentenced to 12 months or more in prison are subject to automatic deportation, but the home secretary can also remove criminals if their presence in the UK is not considered desirable.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick welcomed the news, saying: “We will finally see the hard reality that mass migration is fuelling crime across our country… Frankly, the public deserved to know this [detail on foreign criminals] long ago.”

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Starmer and Zelenskyy discuss ending Russia’s ‘brutal war’ – as Putin says says he is open to bilateral talks on longer ceasefire

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Starmer and Zelenskyy discuss ending Russia's 'brutal war' - as Putin says says he is open to bilateral talks on longer ceasefire

Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about ending Russia’s “brutal war” on Ukraine in their latest phone call on Easter Monday, as Vladimir Putin said he was open to bilateral talks.

The prime minister and Ukrainian president spoke on Monday afternoon, when Sir Keir “reiterated his iron-clad support for Ukraine“.

A Downing Street spokesperson added that the prime minister “said that the UK supports Ukraine’s calls for Russia to commit to a full ceasefire and that now is the time for Putin to show he is serious about ending his brutal war”.

“They discussed the latest developments on the Coalition of the Willing, and looked forward to further progress towards a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson added.

Mr Zelenskyy later said on social media that he had a “good and detailed conversation” with the prime minister, and added Ukrainian officials will be in London for talks on ending the war with Russia on Wednesday.

“We are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace,” he added.

The Ukrainian president added that the 30-hour Easter truce, which both Kyiv and Moscow accuse the other of violating, showed that Russia “are prolonging the war”.

It comes as Mr Putin proposed bilateral talks with Ukraine on a longer ceasefire, which would mark the first time Russia held such talks since a failed peace deal soon after the invasion in 2022.

Speaking to a state TV reporter, the Russian president said: “We always have a positive attitude towards a truce, which is why we came up with such an initiative (the Easter truce), especially since we are talking about the bright Easter days.”

When asked about Mr Zelenskyy’s calls to extend the 30-hour ceasefire into a 30-day pause on civilian targets, he added: “This is all a subject for careful study, perhaps even bilaterally. We do not rule this out.”

The Ukrainian president said on Sunday evening that the Russian army had “violated Putin’s ceasefire more than 2,000 times” during the day, and accused Russia of “failing” to “uphold its own promise of a ceasefire”.

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From Saturday: Why Putin offered an Easter truce?

It also comes after Donald Trump has said he hopes Russia and Ukraine “will make a deal this week,” after he and his secretary of state Marco Rubio warned that the US will walk away from efforts to broker a peace deal unless there are clear signs of progress soon.

The US president said on his Truth Social platform that both countries would “start to do big business” with the US after ending the war.

Read more from Sky News:
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Last month, Ukraine accepted Mr Trump’s proposal for a 30-day truce, but Mr Putin refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire, saying crucial issues of verification had not been sorted out.

He then said he would agree not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. However, both sides have accused each other of breaking the moratorium on attacks on energy targets and at sea.

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Can Rachel Reeves come up trumps in Washington?

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Can Rachel Reeves come up trumps in Washington?

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy look at the day ahead in British politics.

Returning from an Easter break for a new season, Sam and Anne begin by discussing how British and global politics will react to the death of Pope Francis.

They discuss the Pope’s own role in politics around the world and the legacy he leaves behind.

Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves is heading to Washington ahead of her first IMF spring meetings, amid pessimistic predictions for the UK’s own economy.

Sam and Anne discuss whether the chancellor can bring Trump’s tariffs on UK imports down and keep hopes high for a US-UK trade deal.

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