Government not ruling out using electronic tagging to control migrants – Suella Braverman
The government is not ruling out using electronic tagging to control migrants who come to the UK illegally.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman told Sky News she is willing to use a “range of options” in dealing with migrants who cross the Channel in small boats.
It comes after a report in The Times said the Home Office is considering fitting asylum seekers arriving in the UK via unauthorised means with electronic tags.
The paper said officials are looking at it as a way to stop the absconding of migrants who cannot be housed in detention centres because they are full to capacity.
Ms Braverman told Sky’s Jayne Secker: “We’ve just enacted a landmark piece of legislation in the form of our Illegal Migration Act – that empowers us to detain those who arrive here illegally and thereafter swiftly remove them to a safe country like Rwanda.
“That will require a power to detain and ultimately control those people – we need to exercise a level of control if we are to remove them from the United Kingdom. We are considering a range of options.
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Asylum backlog hits new record high
“We have a couple of thousand detention places in our existing removal capacity. We will be working intensively to increase that but it’s clear we are exploring a range of options – all options – to ensure that we have that level of control of people so they can flow through our system swiftly to enable us to remove them.”
Ms Braverman conceded the government may have to provide more detention places while it waits for the outcome of the legal challenges against the Rwanda scheme.
“If we are successful [in court], we will be operationalising our police. If we’re thwarted by the courts, we’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we stop the boats. It is a pledge the prime minister has made, it is one I have made and it is one we are working night and day to deliver.”
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She also blamed a “range of forces… immigration lawyers, charities, NGOs, many of whom have very close links with the Labour Party” for delaying the government’s Rwanda policy.
Defending the government’s payment of £500m to France to police the beaches, Ms Braverman said it is “absolutely critical to succeeding in stopping the boats”.
“At the highest levels, between prime minister and president, we are collaborating and working closely.”
She added: “There have been hundreds of arrests of people-smuggling gangs and convictions of those who are facilitating illegal migration.
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“The only effective way to stop this problem is to break the model of the people-smuggling gangs though upstream interception but also by deterrents and ensuring that those who attempt this journey in the first place will be penalised and will have to face consequences such as removal from the United Kingdom.”
Justin Madders, the shadow employment minister, criticised Braverman’s refusal to rule out electronic tagging, saying: “The only people you tag are criminals – my understanding is that people coming to this country seeking asylum are not criminals.
“They’re usually fleeing persecution and if there was a problem with people absconding, this is the first I’ve heard about it.
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“This is just another gimmick that is not dealing with the root of the problem at all.
“[Braverman’s] party has been in power for 13 years, to keep blaming the Labour Party for every failure of the government is quite pathetic frankly. They need to own this problem. To blame other people is symptomatic of a bankrupt government,” he said.
Cutting the annual allowance for cash ISAs could backfire in multiple ways, an influential group of MPs has warned the government.
For months, speculation has been growing that the chancellor may slash the yearly limit for tax-free savings – potentially from £20,000 to £10,000.
The government is hoping to encourage savers to invest in stocks and shares ISAs instead, which can offer greater long-term returns and improve financial health.
But according to the Treasury Committee, slashing allowances would be unlikely to achieve this – and could lead to higher prices for consumers.
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Chancellor faces tough budget choices
Building societies rely on cash ISA savings to fund mortgage lending – and a drop in deposits might lead to higher interest rates or fewer products on the market.
Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier said “we are a long way” from achieving a culture where substantial numbers of Britons invest in the stock market.
“This is not the right time to cut the cash ISA limit,” she warned. “Instead, the Treasury should focus on ensuring that people are equipped with the necessary information and confidence to make informed investment decisions.
“Without this, I fear the chancellor’s attempts to transform the UK’s investment culture simply will not deliver the change she seeks, instead hitting savers and borrowers.”
Read more: How to get started with a stocks and shares ISA
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The latest figures suggest two-thirds of contributions to ISAs in the 2023/24 tax year went to cash accounts – bringing total holdings to £360bn.
An estimated 14.4 million consumers solely save in a cash ISA, with the average balance standing at £6,993.
Surveys suggest that, if allowances were cut, consumers may move their cash to alternative savings accounts where they would have to pay tax on interest.
Skipton Group executive Charlotte Harrison previously warned: “Building societies, which funds over a third of all first-time buyer mortgages, rely on retail deposits like cash ISAs to fund their lending.
“If ISA inflows fall, the cost of funding is likely to rise, and that means mortgages could become both more expensive and harder to access.”
She claimed a policy change could end up “penalising savers who want low-risk, flexible options” – adding: “Cash ISAs work. Undermining them doesn’t.”
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “At the moment, often returns on savings and returns on pensions are lower than in comparable countries around the world.
“I do want to make sure that when people put something aside for the future, they get good returns on those savings.”
The committee’s warning comes amid speculation over whether Ms Reeves will raise income tax at next month’s budget – breaking a key Labour manifesto pledge.
Newspaper reports have suggested that the basic rate of income tax could be increased for the first time since the 1970s – up 1p to 21%.
This could raise about £8bn and help tackle a black hole in the country’s finances, but risks squeezing consumers further as a cost-of-living crisis continues.
A 1p rise to the higher band of income tax – taking that rate to 41% – is also believed to be under consideration, but this would only boost the nation’s coffers by £2bn.
Ms Reeves has refused to rule out such a move, telling Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates that she is looking at both tax rises and spending cuts ahead of her statement to the Commons on 26 November.
The Bank of England is worried that a rise in financiers’ lending to data center lending may cause an AI bubble reminiscent of the dot-com crash in the early 2000s.
The rumored nomination of Michael Selig follows the CFTC nomination process hitting a snag in September when Brian Quintenz was withdrawn.
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