Shabana Mahmood has announced plan to cut leave to remain from five years to 30 months, to concern of UN refugee agency

Two Sudanese asylum seekers are challenging a central element of Labour’s plans to strip refugees of basic rights, rejecting the home secretary’s accusation that they are “asylum shoppers”.

Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to halve refugees’ leave to remain in the UK, from five years to 30 months. Previously, people could apply for permanent settlement after five years but now refugees will have to wait 20 years before being eligible.

Government’s anti-slavery commissioner says traffickers are exploiting a growing pipeline of vulnerability

Slavery in the UK is at record levels and is expected to worsen over the next decade, the government’s independent anti-slavery commissioner has warned.

According to the number of referrals to the national referral mechanism, which assesses potential victims of slavery and provides support to victims, numbers have almost doubled in the last five years from 12,691 referrals in 2021 to 23,411 in 2025, the highest ever number.

Two were found dead in the early hours of Sunday in boat carrying about 82 people, several of whom were injured

Two female Sudanese asylum seekers have died trying to cross the Channel in the early hours of Sunday morning, off the coast of Boulogne.

According to some reports, one was a teenager aged 16 and the other a woman in her 20s. They were found dead in the boat, which had run aground on the beach of Neufchâtel-Hardelot, according to Christophe Marx, the secretary general of the Pas-de-Calais Prefecture.

Kurdish Syrian man, 26, said he fled forced conscription by YPG militia because he ‘didn’t want to kill people’

An asylum seeker sent back to France under the controversial “one in, one out” scheme faces being returned to Syria after authorities in Paris ruled it was safe to do so, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.

When the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced the “groundbreaking” deal in July 2025 to stop small boats crowded with asylum seekers from crossing the Channel – by forcibly returning one small-boat asylum seeker to France in exchange for bringing one in northern France legally to the UK – they emphasised that France was a safe country for returnees.

Exclusive: Retired NHS worker Nicholas Stone died after becoming unwell at protest against far-right Bristol Patriots

The daughter of a retired NHS worker is calling for a full and independent investigation into the death of her father after it emerged he died after police contact at a protest against the far right.

Nicholas Stone, 65, who lived in Bristol, died on 10 January after becoming unwell at a protest opposing the rightwing group Bristol Patriots, who were staging a demonstration in the city centre.

Campaigners organise open letter to director demanding ‘fair day’s wage’ for all workers at V&A museums

A row over pay has broken out at the V&A before the opening of its newest site , with thousands of people calling for it to become a living wage employer.

On Saturday, V&A East will open its doors in Stratford, east London, showcasing stunning fabrics, photos and black British music. It joins a wider group of V&A museums including its original site in South Kensington, Young V&A in Bethnal Green and V&A Dundee. The V&A describes its latest opening as one of the most significant new museum projects in the UK.