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The government is looking at other countries it could process asylum seekers in, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has told Sky News.

Speaking to Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Ms Cooper said the government has been talking to Italy about its arrangements with Albania and with the EU Commission about other options.

Ms Cooper said she has been speaking to the Italian interior minister about their deal, which means asylum seekers wanting to settle in Italy will be processed in Albania.

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A group thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover after a small boat incident in the Channel on 27 March. Pic: PA
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A group thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover after a small boat incident in the Channel on 27 March. Pic: PA

Asked if she wants the same deal for the UK, following reports the government is looking at a deal with Albania, Ms Cooper said: “We will always look at what works.

“There has to be practical things that will work, not gimmicks.”

She criticised the Conservative government’s Rwanda deal, which was meant to see UK asylum seekers processed in Rwanda. It cost £700m but only saw four volunteers sent there.

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Former Labour home secretary Lord Blunkett has suggested the government should create bespoke agreements with designated “safe” countries to deport foreign criminals and illegal immigrants, as this would override any claims through the Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Inside two of Italy's controversial migrant centres in Albania
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Italy has opened migrant centres in Albania

Asked about that, and whether the UK is talking to Albania or any other countries about an “Italian-style deal”, Ms Cooper said: “We’ve talked to the Italian government about the arrangements that they have, and we’ve always said we’ll look at what works.

“We’re also talking to the EU Commission who are interested in different approaches around return hubs, that’s the kind of thing that you’re talking about.

“But our central focus is on the borders, the summit, the organised immigration crime summit and on tackling the criminal gangs.”

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Labour ‘deports 19,000 migrants’

The UK is hosting an “unprecedented” border security summit on Monday with interior ministers and law enforcement from more than 40 countries, Ms Cooper said.

She said the summit was necessary because illegal immigration is a “global problem”.

“The criminal gang networks that end up with people arriving in the UK, stretch back through northern France, through Germany, across Europe, to places like the hills of Kurdistan or the money markets in Kabul,” the home secretary said.

“So you need to tackle this as a global problem.”

Ms Cooper added that the government has got new agreements with France and the French government has changed the rules so its police force will now “take action” in the Channel to prevent migrants crossing to the UK in small boats.

STARMER MELONI
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Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni with Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street in March

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to “smash the gangs”, which Ms Cooper said can be seen through the 20% increase in migrant returns since Labour was voted in last summer, a 40% increase in illegal working raids and a 40% increase in arrests for illegal working.

The Home Office announced on Sunday that company bosses hiring in the gig economy could face up to five years in prison if they fail to check if their employees can legally work in the UK.

Ms Cooper told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “Frankly, it is too easy at the moment for employers to take people on illegally through those contract mechanisms without those checks in place.”

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‘I’m deprived of my UK citizenship but I’m not a convicted terrorist’

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'I'm deprived of my UK citizenship but I'm not a convicted terrorist'

Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) went from a jihadist movement once aligned to al Qaeda to forming the official government of Syria.

It was a monumental transformation for them, their country and the wider Middle East.

But potentially too for British people who went to Syria – and who were stripped of their citizenship as a result, on the grounds of national security.

Tauqir Sharif, better known as Tox, went to Syria in 2012 as an aid worker. He was accused of being part of a group affiliated with al Qaeda, which he denies, and the then-home secretary Amber Rudd deprived him of his British citizenship in 2017.

“As of now, I am deprived of my UK citizenship but I’m not a convicted terrorist – and the reason for that is because we refused, we boycotted, the SIAC [Special Immigration Appeals Commission] secret courts, which don’t allow you to see any of the evidence presented against you,” he said.

“And one of the things that I always called for was, look, put me in front of a jury, let’s have an open hearing.”

Tox went to Syria in 2012
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Tox went to Syria in 2012

HTS is still a proscribed terrorist organisation but the British government has now established relations with it.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to Damascus to meet the jihadist-turned-Syrian interim president – the man who swapped his nom de guerre of al Jolani for Ahmed al Sharaa.

David Lammy shakes hands with Ahmed al Sharaa in Damascus. Pic: X / @DavidLammy
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David Lammy shakes hands with Ahmed al Sharaa in Damascus. Pic: X / @DavidLammy

If the UK government takes HTS off the terror list, what does that mean for those who lost their citizenship after being accused of being part of it?

People who joined HTS are only a subset among the scores of people who have had their citizenship revoked – a tool the UK government has been quick to use.

According to a report by the Parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee, the UK “uses deprivation of citizenship orders more than almost any country in the world”.

The peak of that was in 2017, and mainly in relation to Syria – especially in the case of people joining Islamic State, perhaps most famously Shamima Begum.

Shamima Begum was stripped of her British citizenship on national security grounds
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Shamima Begum was stripped of her British citizenship on national security grounds

And because people cannot be made entirely stateless, and need to have a second nationality, or be potentially eligible for one, there are worries of racism in who the orders apply to.

Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh offer dual nationality, whereas other nations do not. In 2022, the Institute of Race Relations said “the vast majority of those deprived are Muslim men with South Asian or Middle Eastern/North African heritage”.

Legal grey areas

Sky News submitted Freedom of Information requests to the Home Office asking for a breakdown of second nationalities of those deprived of citizenship, but was refused twice on national security grounds.

The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, told Sky News there are issues around transparency.

“I do think there is a problem when you have people whose relationship with the country that they’re left with is really technical and they may never have realised that they had that citizenship before and may never gone to that country,” he said.

“Me and my predecessors have all said, owing to how frequently this power is used, it should be something that the independent reviewer should have the power to review. I asked, my predecessor asked, we’ve both been told no, so I agree there’s a lack of transparency.”

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No automatic reversal

Even if the government does remove HTS from the terror list, it would not automatically invalidate decisions to deprive people of their citizenship.

Macer Gifford fought with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) as a foreign volunteer. Pic: AP
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Macer Gifford fought with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) as a foreign volunteer. Pic: AP

Macer Gifford gave up a career as a banker in London to join the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) as a foreign volunteer between 2015 and 2017.

He told Sky News that decisions “made years ago in the interest of the British public have to remain”.

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“We can’t sort of go through previous cases nitpicking through it, wasting time and money to bring it up to date,” he added.

“We can’t be naive because the intent to go out, the decision to go in itself is a huge decision for them. So it shows commitment when they’re there, they then, if they take an active participation in the organisations that they’ve been accused of joining, again, that involves training and perseverance and dedication to the cause.”

But those born and raised in Britain, who joined the same cause, and lost their citizenship as a result, might reasonably ask why that should remain the case.

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Criminals could be banned from pubs and sports grounds under new plans

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Criminals could be banned from pubs and sports grounds under new plans

Criminals face being banned from pubs, sports grounds and concerts under new government plans to give judges powers to pass tougher community sentences.

The new measures, which would apply to people in England and Wales, “should remind all offenders that, under this government, crime does not pay”, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.

Offenders’ freedom could also be curtailed with limits on driving, travel bans and restriction zones confining them to specific areas, the government said.

Similar measures could also apply to prisoners let out on licence, while drug testing would be expanded to include all those released, rather than just those with a history of substance misuse.

While judges are currently able to impose limited bans for specific crimes, such as football bans for crimes committed inside a stadium on match day, the new measures would allow for such bans to be handed down for any offence.

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Inside one of Britain’s most overcrowded prisons

The justice secretary said: “When criminals break society’s rules, they must be punished.

“Those serving their sentences in the community must have their freedom restricted there too.

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“These new punishments should remind all offenders that, under this government, crime does not pay.

“Rightly, the public expect the government to do everything in its power to keep Britain safe, and that’s what we’re doing.”

The proposals are part of the Labour government’s efforts to tackle overcrowding in prisons.

Back in June, it emerged that prisoners were to be transferred to lower security jails in an effort to ease overcrowding, as part of a new measure quietly unveiled by the government.

Sky News reported earlier this month how the prison system was close to collapse on a number of occasions between autumn 2023 and summer 2024, according to an independent review by former chief inspector of prisons, Dame Anne Owers.

The report said there was a systemic problem which has led to recurring prison capacity crises over the last 18 years.

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Police separate anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters across the country

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Police separate anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters across the country

Protesters have gathered across the country as groups demonstrated against asylum seeker housing and were met by anti-racism campaigners.

Demonstrations under the Abolish Asylum System slogan were held in England, Scotland and Wales, including in Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Aberdeen, Mold, Perth, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley and Canary Wharf.

Counter-protests were also organised by campaign group Stand Up to Racism.

Police officers scuffle with demonstrators during protests at Castle Park in Bristol. Pic: PA
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Police officers scuffle with demonstrators during protests at Castle Park in Bristol. Pic: PA

In Bristol, mounted police separated the two groups in the Castle Park, with officers scuffling with protesters.

Police kept around 200 anti-immigration protesters draped in English flags away from roughly 50 Stand Up to Racism protesters in Horley, Surrey.

People take part in a protest outside the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Horley, Surrey. Pic: PA
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People take part in a protest outside the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Horley, Surrey. Pic: PA

One man, wearing a West Ham United football shirt, was held by police as he yelled: “You’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here” at anti-racism protesters.

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Anti-immigration protesters also chanted: “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson” in support of the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

A confrontation between a protester and a counter-protester outside the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Horley, Surrey. Pic: PA
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A confrontation between a protester and a counter-protester outside the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Horley, Surrey. Pic: PA

The anti-racism protesters chanted “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here” and held signs calling for solidarity and to “stop deportations”.

The Stand Up to Racism protesters were shepherded into a smaller area as they continued to chant: “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here”, which was met with “No they’re f****** not” from the other side of the street.

People inside the hotel look at protesters outside the Radisson Hotel in Perth. Pic: PA
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People inside the hotel look at protesters outside the Radisson Hotel in Perth. Pic: PA

In Perth, protesters gathered outside the Radisson Hotel.

The anti-migration protesters held up signs with slogans such as “Perth is full – empty the hotels” and “get them out”.

People take part in a counter-protest outside the Radisson Hotel in Perth. Pic: PA
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People take part in a counter-protest outside the Radisson Hotel in Perth. Pic: PA

Stand Up to Racism Scotland said it had achieved “victory” in Perth, with more than 200 gathering to oppose the Abolish Asylum System demonstration.

In Liverpool, a dispersal order was issued to try and contain the protests.

Saturday’s events come amid continued tension around the use of the hotels for asylum seekers.

Regular protests had been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which started after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on 10 July.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.

In the wake of those protests, Epping Forest District Council sought and won an interim High Court injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated there – a decision which the government is seeking permission to appeal.

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