Newslinks for Tuesday 26th of August 2025

Starmer told by Tories and his own MPs to grip immigration crisis or lose the next election

“Keir Starmer has been warned by his own MPs and party grandees that Labour risks losing the next election unless he does more to tackle illegal migration. The Prime Minister was urged by his own side to take more radical action, including suspending human rights protections and copying Denmark’s hardline ‘zero refugee’ approach amid growing public concern over his Government’s handling of the crisis.As he travelled to Europe for a holiday with his family, a YouGov poll found that 71 per cent of voters – including 56 per cent of Labour supporters – believe he is dealing with the issue of asylum hotels badly. Almost four in ten (37 per cent) said immigration and asylum is the most important issue facing the country but fewer than one in ten (9 per cent) said Labour was the best party to tackle it.  Even 16 per cent of those who voted for Sir Keir’s party at the last election thought Reform UK would do a better job at securing the borders. It comes after a record 111,084 asylum claims were lodged in Labour’s first year in power, despite the Prime Minister’s vow to ‘smash the gangs’.Official figures also revealed last week that the number of asylum-seekers being housed in hotels across the country has risen by 8 per cent in the past year, while councils across the country are now trying to end the practice in the wake of a landmark court case.” – Daily Mail

• Keir Starmer torn apart over small boats crisis in damning new poll – Daily Express
• Get tough or lose. Starmer facing huge pressure from own MPs to crack down on illegal immigration after Farage reveals his deportation plan – The Sun
• Migrants wade neck-deep into the sea off Calais carrying children on their shoulders in desperate bid to reach UK-bound boat – Daily Mail
• Calais migrants board boats as one in, one out scheme goes silent – The Times
• Migrant numbers now top 52,000 on Starmer’s watch as 900 storm Channel over bank Holiday – Daily Express
• Not enough. Fury as Labour’s migrant overhaul ‘WON’T stop the boats’ as Starmer blasted again over escalating crisis
• Farage: Starmer sides with international courts over British people – Daily Telegraph
• Farage unveils plans for ‘mass deportations’… but Tories say migrant policy blitz is copied from them – Daily Mail
• UK ready to deport 100 migrants but those in France are undeterred – The Times
• Home Office promises ‘big surge’ in asylum hotel closures in new year – Guardian
• Small boat migrants to be first in line for fast-track hearings to empty asylum hotels – The i
• Oxford academic and refugee campaigner ‘running illicit operation to bring in foreign workers’… with one allegedly ‘vanishing’ – Daily Mail

Editorial

• Labour could be forced out of power if it doesn’t get a grip on migration – The Sun

Comment

• Mass immigration is driving Britain’s sexual violence crisis – Rakib Ehsan, Unherd
• Farage, flags and the forgotten English – Stephen Daisley, Spectator

Today

• How long before Labour falls to third place in the polls?

Conservatives brand Rayner a ‘staggering’ hypocrite over second home and her council tax

“The council tax due on Angela Rayner’s grace-and-favour home in central London is being paid by the public. The bill for Ms Rayner’s flat in Admiralty House is covered by the taxpayer because it is designated as a second home, The Telegraph can disclose.Ms Rayner has listed a property in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency as her primary residence, even though this is around 200 miles away from her office in London. The Tories accused ministers of a “cover-up” over Ms Rayner’s tax affairs and cast doubt over claims that Ashton-under-Lyne is her primary residence, given her role at the heart of the Government in London. Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative Party chairman, said: “It is staggering hypocrisy for the Deputy Prime Minister to push punitive new taxes on family homes while apparently avoiding those same taxes herself. One rule for Rayner, another for everyone else.” – Daily Telegraph

• Tories accuse Angela Rayner of hypocrisy over second-home tax – The Times
• Three pads Ang. Angela Rayner is ‘using taxpayer funds’ to cover council tax on her grace-and-favour Whitehall flat – The Sun
• ‘She’s never here’: Three homes Deputy PM Rayner accused of neglecting her constituency address as 70ft trees overshadow neighbours – Daily Mail
• Rayner’s second home could lose Labour votes to Reform, says pollster – The i
• Angela Rayner comes clean after huge council tax row over three homes – Daily Express

Comment

• It’s fine to have a second home Angela… if only you weren’t clamping down on the rest of us owning one – Ross Clark

Concerns about Reeves hidden Budget tax hikes build across the economy

“Worried firms are bracing themselves for a £2.5billion Labour tax double whammy. They will be clobbered twice — first by an inflation rate increase in business rates in April, then by a Rachel Reeves surcharge, experts say. Business rates are the property tax that companies must pay just to occupy their shops, pubs, factories and offices. The Tories last night warned thousands of struggling firms would be crippled.Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly said: “Once again, Labour is hammering the high street. Raising business rates for thousands of hard-working small businesses across England was one of Labour’s first acts in office. And despite our opposition to it, and clear evidence of the damaging impact it will have, they have pressed ahead — consequences be damned.” – The Sun

• Reeves’s tax raids are ‘doing as much damage to hospitality sector as Covid lockdowns’ – Daily Mail
• Airport boss blasts wealth taxes and ‘wokery’ in Starmer’s Britain – The Times
• UK unemployment rate set to hit 5%, think-tank predicts – FT

Comment

• Keir Starmer’s clueless idiot – how Rachel Reeves’s economy is even worse than you thought – Esther McVey, Daily Express

Yesterday

• With the Budget looming closer exactly what taxes will Reeves raise in her defence?

UK elections chief says children need lessons from 11 to be ready to vote at 16

“Schools will need to give democracy lessons to children from the age of 11 and ask teachers to leave their politics at the classroom door to help prepare for votes at 16, the head of the UK elections watchdog has said. Vijay Rangarajan, the chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said democratic education would be rolled out at first to those aged over 14 in preparation for votes at 16 at the next election. However, he said this would ultimately need to start at age 11 in order for pupils to be in the best position to take advantage of being able to vote at 16 and 17. The Electoral Commission is preparing material to give to schools to help with democratic education, amid calls from some politicians, such as David Blunkett, for better preparation.In an interview, Rangarajan said huge work was going into the citizenship material to make it “impartial”, and said schools and teachers have a role in making sure they do not attempt to sway students in how to vote. “We’re going to need teachers to be really good at leaving their own personal views a bit at the door here,” he said. “And making clear, when they have got personal views, it’s just personal views.” – Guardian

• Booze free ban. Labour could ban 16-year-olds from buying alcohol-free beer and wine — but let them vote – The Sun

Reform find running councils harder than they thought or promised it would be

“When Reform UK swept to power in 12 local authorities in May, it promised change. From Elon Musk-style efficiency savings and scrapping net zero policies to flying the Union flag, Nigel Farage’s success in the local elections owed much to Reform’s national electoral strategy. Since then, Reform’s new local authorities have been embroiled in a series of extraordinary controversies, from a teenager running a council with an annual budget and assets of £2 billion to a councillor quitting after calling on the navy to shoot at small boats. Reform says it has already had significant successes in its central policy of slashing costs and waste. But it is also coming up against the reality of statutory duties, such as providing adult social care and special-needs education.” – The Times

• The five Reform policies that have been tried before – and the ones that failed – The i

Federal Reserve governor ‘fired’ by Trump claims he has no authority over central bank

“Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has begun a standoff with Donald Trump, refusing to leave her post after Trump announced he had fired her Monday evening. Cook’s sacking was the first in the 111-year history of the Federal Reserve, as Trump all but guaranteed a replacement that would back the president’s calls to slash interest rates. However, Cook released a statement Monday night that suggested she wasn’t going anywhere. “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,’ she said.  ‘I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.” – Daily Mail

• Trump moves to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook after mortgage fraud allegation – Guardian
• Donald Trump says he is firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook ‘effective immediately’ – FT

News in Brief

• Our tax system is complex and unfair – here’s how to fix it – John Penrose, CapX
• Europe is stuck in the Total Perspective Vortex – Wolfgang Munchau, Unherd
• In defence of online anonymity – Chris Bayliss, The Critic
• Where did it all go so wrong for Britain? – Gareth Roberts, Spectator

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