Police have made an arrest after a man barricaded in a flat in Sheffield allegedly had weapons.

Officers were first called to a block of flats in Broad Street at around 7pm on Monday to deal with a man said to be “a risk to himself”.

Residents were evacuated and spent Monday night at a sports centre, while nearby main roads were closed.

Those roads, including Sheffield Parkway – one of the main roads from the centre to the M1 motorway – have now been reopened and public transport has resumed as police reduced their cordon overnight on Tuesday, into Wednesday.

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But the building remains closed and residents are still evacuated and unable to return to their properties.

A statement from South Yorkshire Police on Wednesday said: “On Monday, just after 7pm, we responded to concerns for a man inside a property on Broad Street, alleged to have weapons and pose a risk to himself.

“Today, a 47-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of affray, criminal damage, possession of a firearm, threats to kill and communicate with a bomb hoax. He remains in police custody at this time.

“We would like to thank those who have been affected for their continued support while emergency services conduct their work. Your support is greatly appreciated.

“A further update will be provided when the building is reopened.”

The force previously described the operation as “challenging”.

The Sheffield Star reported that thousands of commuters were affected by road closures on Tuesday morning, with some spending three hours trying to get to work.

Migrants arriving illegally in the UK in small boats or stowed away in lorries will be refused British citizenship, new Home Office guidance states.

The “Good Character” guidance for immigration staff has been changed to say people who have arrived in the UK illegally “having made a dangerous journey… will normally be refused citizenship” from 10 February, regardless of when they arrived.

It says a dangerous journey includes “but is not limited to, travelling by small boat or concealed in a vehicle or other conveyance”.

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The guidance clarifies this does not include arriving as a passenger on a commercial airline.

Previously, refugees who arrived by irregular routes had to wait 10 years before being considered for citizenship.

The Home Office said the change “further strengthens” measures to make it clear anyone entering the UK illegally will be refused British citizenship.

People arriving in small boats have risen by almost a third since Labour took office, with nearly 25,000 people arriving between 4 July 2024 and 6 February 2025 – 28% higher than the same dates a year before.

It is also the second highest figure since records began in 2018.

Some Labour MPs and the Refugee Council have condemned the latest guidance as they say it will mean refugees can live in the UK but will not be allowed to have a place in society.

Labour MP Stella Creasy said on X the guidance “should be changed asap”.

“If we give someone refugee status, it can’t be right to then refuse them route to become a British citizen,” she wrote.

“To say they can have a home in our country, but never a place in our society and be forever second class.”

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The Refugee Council said the change “flies in the face of reason” and said the British public want refugees in the UK “to integrate and contribute to their new communities, so it makes no sense for the government to erect more barriers”.

“We urge ministers to urgently reconsider,” Enver Solomon, CEO of the NGO said.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “There are already rules that can prevent those arriving illegally from gaining citizenship.

“This policy guidance further strengthens measures to make it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally, including small boat arrivals, faces having a British citizenship application refused.”

Labour’s manifesto promised to “smash the gangs”, with the government creating a Border Security Command and introducing new powers for authorities to prevent people smugglers from travelling, stop mobile phone use and shut down bank accounts.

On Monday, the second reading of the government’s Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill was passed with an overwhelming majority.

The bill officially scraps the Conservatives’ plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda and provides the legal backing to boost police powers against people smugglers.

The Conservatives have not yet responded to the new guidance but leader Kemi Badenoch last week said she would toughen up citizenship rules to make it more difficult for new immigrants to be able to permanently settle in the UK.

Prisoners are being sent back to jail by the probation service because it’s the “easiest thing to do”, rather than solely for public protection, the chief inspector of probation has told Sky News.

Martin Jones cited caseload “pressure” in the service meaning officers are recalling people to jail to get them out of their “worry zone”, even if it has “relatively little impact on the protection of the public”, causing “overcrowded prisons” for “limited benefit.

“I think it’s a symptom of a system under huge pressure,” said Mr Jones.

“I’m not sure that the checks and balances are in place to ensure that it’s really about significant risk to the public. There is of course a difference between somebody, for example, committing a very serious sexual or violent offence and perhaps somebody who is released from custody on licence, they don’t have anywhere to live and they shoplift. They might face further charges. Is it really necessary for the protection of the public that person be recalled to custody?.”

The recall population in England and Wales – the number of prisoners sent back to jail after release – has more than doubled in the last decade. It now accounts for 15% of the total number of people behind bars.

Data published by the Ministry of Justice covering July-September 2024 showed there were 9,975 recalls, up 42% on the same period the previous year, and the highest quarterly recall statistics on record. It means that for every 100 people being released between July and September, 67 people were recalled.

It comes after the government introduced a new early release scheme in September, which saw thousands of offenders freed after serving 40% of their sentence, rather than 50%.

In the three months to September, nearly a quarter (24%) of recall cases involved a charge of further offending, with almost three-quarters (73%) of people recalled for “non-compliance” with license conditions.

That can include missing or turning up late to probation appointments, missing curfews, or poor behaviour. Homelessness, meaning offenders aren’t reporting to stable accommodation, is another significant recall factor.

In the past three years, the annual number of recalls for people who have faced no further charges while on license almost doubled, from 13,192 to 25,775 per year. Meanwhile the number recalled who have been charged with a new crime is almost exactly the same as it was then.

Less than a quarter of those recalled to prison in the year to September were charged with a new crime – the first time on record that figure has been that low.

There are a number of factors as to why the recall population has grown so much. These include longer sentences meaning lengthier license supervision periods on release, higher caseloads, and structural changes to the service meaning probation monitoring is required for all offenders.

Before 2014, it wasn’t required for those sentenced to less than a year in jail.

Early release schemes under the previous government and new measures introduced by Labour in September have contributed.

Changes to the recall process in April also mean that less serious offenders serving sentences of under 12 months will go back to prison for a fixed short period. It’s therefore possible for an offender who might have previously been back in prison for months, now to be released and recalled multiple times.

The number of recalls to releases has been growing. In 2013 prisons were recalling one prisoner for every five people released. That ratio is now 3:5.

Sky News spent an afternoon with ex-offenders in Burnley as they turned up to a charity service called Church on the Street, which offers support to help former criminals turn their lives around.

All of them had experiences and stories of recall, some more than once.

One man said he’d been “recalled for missing three appointments, for being drunk and under the influence”.

“Every time I’ve been recalled, it’s always been for 18 months, two years. It goes on for that long,” he said.

He accepts “responsibility” for breaking the rules but doesn’t feel it “warrants” lengthy terms back in jail for “no crime committed”.

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Long sentences, sometimes for serious crimes, mean that when released at the halfway point prisoners are monitored by the probation service with lengthy license periods. If recalled, whether that be for a breach of a license condition or a further crime – they can end up serving the remainder of that sentence in prison.

Another ex-offender we met told us of a man who was released homeless, with a GPS tracking tag. He couldn’t charge his tag as had no electricity, without a home, and hence couldn’t be monitored by the probation service, and so was recalled to jail.

Bishop Mick Fleming runs Church On The Street and calls the situation with recall “ridiculous”, saying that the community has noticed a “massive” increase, suggesting that both the prison and probation system is “failing”.

What’s being noticed outside jail in the community, is also being felt inside a pressured and crowded prison system.

When Sky News visited HMP Elmley in Kent in October, almost everyone we spoke to referenced issues with recall.

“It’s like a revolving door”, one serving offender told us. Another said, “cut the recalls down, and the prisons will be empty”.

“Cut the recalls down, and the prisons will be empty”

“We release a lot of people, they’re homeless, they come back within three days,” said a prison officer.

In a statement a Ministry of Justice spokesperson told Sky News that the number of recalled offenders in prison has “doubled” which they say has “contributed to the capacity crisis the new government inherited, with prisons days away from overflowing”.

They said it can take “months before a Parole Board decision on whether a recalled prisoner should be re-released and so we are looking at ways to reform the recall and re-release process, while retaining important safeguards to keep the public safe”.