Fly-tippers to get points on driving licences and nuisance tenants will be kicked out under Tory plans
People caught fly-tipping will get points on their driving licences if the Conservatives win the next general election.
Rishi Sunak will make the announcement on Friday as part of his party’s election campaign, promising to crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
Other measures will include a new “three strikes and you’re out” system for nuisance social housing tenants and the rolling out of its “hot spot” policing programme across England and Wales to increase patrolling in the worst affected areas.
The prime minister said the “bold action” would “stop anti-social behaviour in its tracks”.
But Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the policies were “more empty words from a chaotic Tory Party” which had “let anti-social behaviour run rampant” while in power.
File pic: iStock
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Fly-tipping is already illegal and can see people facing a fine of £1,000. But the Conservatives said their “no tolerance” approach would mean offenders could end up losing their licences or even in prison due to the points being added.
For anti-social tenants, the party said local authorities and housing associations would be “expected” to evict tenants after three proven instances of anti-social behaviour.
And the policing programme would copy a pilot the government has run in 10 areas, which it said led to nearly 800 arrests, close to 2,000 stop and searches and almost 1,000 uses of anti-social behaviour powers, such as community protection notices and public protection orders.
Pic: iStock
“Everyone has the right to feel safe in their neighbourhood and a sense of pride in the place they call home,” Mr Sunak will say.
“The Conservatives are the only ones with a clear plan to ensure safety, security and prosperity in your local community and your high street.
“We will take the bold action needed to crack down on fly-tipping, evict nuisance tenants and stop anti-social behaviour in its tracks so we can build a secure future for everyone across the whole country.”
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But Ms Cooper claimed there had been more than one million fly-tipping incidents in the last year alone, “yet the Tories repeatedly failed to implement their own policies and promises”.
She added: “Who does Rishi Sunak think is going to enforce any action on anti-social behaviour when the Tories have cut 10,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs in the last eight years?
“Labour will take back our streets from those piling misery onto our communities. We’ll put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat, with tough new powers to crackdown on those who cause havoc on our high streets, and a mission to reverse the collapse in the number of crimes being solved.”
The Liberal Democrats’ local government spokesperson Helen Morgan accused the Tories of “effectively legalising littering” during their tenure, saying fines were “so low that people are being let off scot-free up and down the country”.
She added: “The Conservatives have had years to get tough on fly-tippers and litterers but have failed at every turn.
“The Liberal Democrats are calling for real action against fly-tippers by increasing fines and using the profits to crack down on this anti-social crime.”
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While the Tories focus on tackling crime, Labour will make a pledge to get started on their Great British Energy plan “within months” of taking office.
First announced at the party’s conference in 2022, the publicly-owned company will focus on green renewable energy, such as wind and solar, in an attempt to cut bills and make the country self-reliant.
Elsewhere, the SNP will make a fresh demand on Labour if they win power – calling on them to commit to an emergency budget immediately after the election to “reverse Tory austerity cuts, boost NHS funding, and invest in economic growth”.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on government officials to address questions related to US President Donald Trump’s memecoin and his media company.
In an April 25 letter to Jamieson Greer, acting director of the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff requested that officials address concerns about Trump’s memecoin after the president announced a dinner and White House tour for some of the individuals who held the most TRUMP tokens. The two senators requested that Greer provide information on safeguards and guidelines related to whether foreign actors and others could buy political influence with the president, potentially impacting his policy positions and federal pardons.
“President Trump’s announcement promises exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for significant investment in one of the President’s business ventures,” wrote the two senators.
“In promising such access, this proposition may implicate several federal ethics laws and constitutional prohibitions, including the federal bribery statute and emoluments clauses of the US Constitution. It also raises the troubling prospect that foreign actors are using the memecoin as a vector to buy influence with President Trump and his associates without needing to disclose their identities publicly.”
The letter was sent the same day Warren reportedly expressed similar concerns about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to an April 25 Reuters report, the Massachusetts senator urged SEC Chair Paul Atkins to ensure that oversight of Trump’s media company was “free from undue political interference and influence from the President and his administration.”
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Though ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Warren does not have the authority to direct Congress’s agenda with Democrats in the minority. Two Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have already called for Trump’s impeachment over his memecoin dinner.
Warren added:
“The American people deserve the unwavering assurance that access to the presidency is not being offered for sale to the highest bidder in exchange for the President’s own financial gain.”
At the time of publication, it was unclear who among the top TRUMP memecoin holders would attend the dinner, scheduled to be held on May 22 at Trump’s golf club in Washington, DC. Speculation and analysis of users suggested that Trump supporters, including Tron founder Justin Sun, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and others, could attend, though none had been confirmed as of April 28.
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Crypto users betting on the outcome of the snap election to determine the next Prime Minister of Canada appear to be favoring a Liberal Party victory as residents head to cast their votes.
As of April 28, cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket gave current Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party candidate Mark Carney a 79% chance of defeating Conservative Party candidate Pierre Poilievre in the race for the country’s next PM. Data from the platform showed users had poured more than $75 million into bets surrounding the race, predicting a Poilievre or Carney victory.
The odds suggested by the platform, as well as those from many polls, show a nearly complete reversal of fortunes between the two candidates after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in January. Trudeau and, by association, many in the Liberal Party, faced criticism over the handling of Canada’s housing crisis and questions about how he would face US President Donald Trump’s then-proposed tariffs.
Following Trudeau’s resignation, Trump stepped up rhetoric disparaging Canada, repeatedly referring to the country as the US’s “51st state” and Trudeau as its “governor.” The US President also imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada in March. The policies seem to have led to increasing anti-Trump sentiment in Canada, with many residents booing the US national anthem at hockey games and making comparisons between the president and Poilievre.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Politics
Small boat crossings pass 10,000 at earliest point in year since records began, Sky News understands
Small boat crossings have passed 10,000 in 2025 at the earliest point in a year since records began, Sky News understands.
Analysis of previous Home Office numbers and footage of people arriving today show the number of people crossing the Channel continuing to rise.
The issue has become a lodestone for political parties across the spectrum, with Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “Stop The Boats” falling well short.
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Sir Keir Starmer promised to clear the backlog of asylum applications and “Smash The Gangs” of people smugglers upstream, but critics say he has failed to do this almost a year into his stint in Number Ten.
Reform’s Nigel Farage has made the issue key to his party’s pitch to voters.
The 10,000 figure is understood to have been passed on 28 April. Official figures only go until 27 April at the time of writing, with 9,885 people detected crossing the Channel by the UK government at this point
This compares to 7,167 by the same date in 2024, 5,745 in 2023, 5,352 in 2022, and 1,796 in 2021. Data only started to get collected in 2018, and for the first three years fewer than 1,000 people were observed crossing the Channel before 28 April.
Fine weather conditions are known to lead to an increase in people crossing the Channel, with some efforts earlier this year stymied by heavy winds.
Sir Keir scrapped the Conservative’s Rwanda deportation plan when entering office. In March, the prime minister said his government had “returned” 24,000 people who had no right to be in the UK.
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Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Britain’s borders are being torn apart under Labour. This year is already the worst on record for small boat crossings after over 10,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Britain, but Labour just sit on their hands.
“Labour scrapped our deterrent before it even started, flung open the door to extremists and criminals, and handed the bill to hardworking taxpayers.
“Under new Conservative leadership, we are serious about tackling this crisis with deliverable reforms, but Labour continue to block these at every turn. Labour’s open-door chaos is a betrayal of the British people, and we will not let them get away with it.”
Mr Philp was part of previous Conservative governments, which also failed to reduce crossings.
Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Farage said: “If this carries on at this rate, by the end of this Labour government another quarter of a million people will have come into this country, many of whom frankly don’t fit our culture or cost us a fortune.”
He claimed that Reform is “the only party” saying that “unless you deport those that come illegally, they will just continue to come”.
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A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
“That is why this government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage.
“Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security and Asylum Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.”
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