UK News & Investigations

PARENTS could be excluded from their children's lives more easily by courts following sweeping new changes to abolish the presumption of parental involvement in the new Courts and Tribunal Bill. The legislation is described by the Labour Government as a landmark piece of legislation to fix the justice system after years of neglect. It says the changes to Family Courts will mean children will be better protected from abusive parents. The presumption of parental involvement was

NEARLY 135,000 asylum seekers entered the UK on student or other visas over the past five years, it has emerged. There has been a surge in asylum applications via legal entry routes, with them making up nearly 40 percent of all claims in 2025, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has admitted. She said tough action is now required as asylum claims from legal routes have more than trebled since 2021 – making up 39 percent of the 100,000 people who applied for asylum last year. In to

A NATIONAL Police Service is to be created, to deal with the most complex and serious crimes and terrorism, in one of the biggest shake ups of policing ever. The changes, to be announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (below) could signal the end of the National Crime Agency (NCA), which will be absorbed into the new service. The service will also bring the capabilities of Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), Regional Organised Crime Units, the National Air Police Service (NA

POLICE officers will have to be licensed like doctors and lawyers as part of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's major changes which will also mean the start of direct-entry police chiefs and more graduates being recruited. Police officers in England and Wales will be required to hold and renew a licence throughout their career so they learn new skills as criminal techniques evolve. Officers must adopt new skills to stay at the top of their game and keep pace with new methods ad

New powers to allow the Home Secretary to send crack squads into failing police forces to turn them around and to sack chief constables will be unveiled on Monday. Shabana Mahmood (above) said Government ministers currently have limited powers to intervene with forces who are failing to fight crime, and the public have little oversight of their local police. She is set to announce the largest reforms to policing since the police service was founded two centuries ago. It comes

THE first illegal migrants have moved into the former military site Crowborough training camp in East Sussex, as part of the government’s mission to try to end the use of expensive hotels.   The site accommodates single adult male illegal migrants who are claiming asylum in the UK in basic, safe accommodation while their claims are being assessed. The first 27 migrants have been moved into the site which will be scaled up to more than 500.  They will only be housed there for 

A LABOUR peer has been announced as the chair of the national inquiry into grooming gangs . Former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield (above) was announced as the lead of the inquiry announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in June this year following a damning report by Baroness Louise Casey who completed a rapid audit looking at the scale of grooming gangs across the country. Announcing the appointment in the House of Commons yesterday Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood

THE Police Federation has defended paying its CEO an eye watering more than twice the Prime Minister's salary, saying he has "resolved potentially catastrophic legal risks at a fraction of the potential liability." It came after the federatioin  reluctantly confirmed CEO Mukund Krishna was paid a basic salary of £342,000 in 2024. Sir Keir Starmer gets about £166,000 a year. A federation spokesperson said: “We are delivering the professional leadership and financial stability

THE most senior civil servant in the Home Office was unable to confirm what the budget will be for the National Grooming Gangs Inquiry, or how many people will work on it, and could not commit to there being any meaningful update before Christmas. Dame Antonia Romeo (above), the Permanent Secretary for the Home Office, received a grilling from MPs on the Home Affairs  Select Committee, about when the inquiry will be up and running. Robbie Moore, (below) Tory MP for Keighly an

A STAGGERING 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to the end of March 31 this year, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has said. A furter 91 have been released in error from April 1 to October 31 this year. The MOJ released details following a number of high profile releases in error this month, November 2025. An MOJ spokesperson said: "Examples of releases in error may include misplaced warrants for imprisonment or remand, recall notices not acted upon or sentence mis