The continuation of the first 100 days.

Tackling criminal gangs who smuggle asylum seekers into the U.K.

Yvette Cooper will chair a summit aimed at apprehending criminal gangs involved in smuggling people across the Channel in small boats, as the Home Office disclosed that MI5 officers had been given a key role in operations.
Intelligence officers, Border Force staff and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) representatives will be present at the meeting on Friday at the National Crime Agency’s headquarters.

A Home Office statement said: “The UK intelligence community (UKIC) are deploying formidable covert capability to support the NCA to penetrate and dismantle the gangs at every level of operation, from facilitators to financiers.”

In a further development around the government’s plans to stop irregular migration, Downing Street said the head of the government’s new Border Security Command would be named within weeks.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “One of the first things that the government did was to launch the recruitment campaign for the border security commander. We obviously want to have the most skilled person possible in the role. The process has been thorough and we expect to provide an update on that in the coming weeks.”

IMO there are two things that would go a long way to mitigate the hardship and deaths being suffered by these people seeking sanctuary in our shores.

The first is simply to provide safe passage after, an initial assessment on French shores (if France would be so kind)
Resources should be put into getting the cases (backlog) and current dealt with swiftly and the ability to work whilst their case is being considered would be beneficial for the asylum seeker snd taxpayer alike.

The second is to firm up on the regulatory work place. It seems that it is very easy to find work and get “lost” in our system. This needs to change to discourage those simply seeking better economic arrangements, and doing so illegally.

Israel - Gaza

David Cameron, the former foreign secretary, sat on advice from Foreign Office officials in Israel and London that there was clear evidence of breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza for which the UK risked being complicit, a former Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) adviser said.
The source, who contributed to the drafting of the advice, was speaking after the Labour government banned 30 of about 350 arms export licences due to a clear risk cited in a government memorandum published on Monday that they might be used in serious breaches of international humanitarian law.

Israeli sources admit relations with the UK are increasingly strained, but at present they do not predict Netanyahu taking practical reprisals against the UK.
All UK components for the F-35 fighter jet programme would be almost entirely excluded from the ban, which is seen as a significant loophole by pro-Palestinian groups. By keeping British components to the F-35s out of the embargo, the UK hopes to minimise anger in Washington.

The FCDO source said wider lessons needed to be drawn from the internal handling of the issue. The source said: “Israel highlights vital lessons globally for arms companies and countries which grant export licences as part of elaborate trade deals. The reality is that none of these licences are granted in isolation of other business and political interests, and are enmeshed with other forms of trade technology exchanges and security equity.”

IMO. I’ve yet to read any USA reaction to this decision.?

I suspect that this will be viewed as no more than a token action, and whether this placates the unease being felt in large parts of the country over this issue remains to be seen.

I noticed that when Netanyahu stood beside a map of the area explaining the issue from his perspective, he had totally written out the West Bank. This was most certainly not an oversight, and a deliberate message to the far right and extremist settlers in Israel.

It is just a token action taken just to placate MP’s who have large Muslim constituencies.
That’s why it’s wrong.

On the ‘irregular migration’ subject, tackling the smuggling gangs has already been tried and failed.I would want to know what’s the difference now?I should think that all the groups mentioned including MI5 were already involved before.

I am always quite interested by the statement that UK state pensions are lower than the rest of Europe. I can't speak for other countries, but my French friends seem to have one pension pot which includes employment contributions. They are puzzled as to why we have two. I wonder if that makes the French one sound higher on average?

Mamie

I am always quite interested by the statement that UK state pensions are lower than the rest of Europe. I can't speak for other countries, but my French friends seem to have one pension pot which includes employment contributions. They are puzzled as to why we have two. I wonder if that makes the French one sound higher on average?

That was my opinion.

I’m happy to be corrected. 😊

Whitewavemark2

Mamie

I am always quite interested by the statement that UK state pensions are lower than the rest of Europe. I can't speak for other countries, but my French friends seem to have one pension pot which includes employment contributions. They are puzzled as to why we have two. I wonder if that makes the French one sound higher on average?

That was my opinion.

I’m happy to be corrected. 😊

It is something you see quoted quite often in the media too. I don't know the answer, but I do wonder if they are comparing like with like.

Oreo

It is just a token action taken just to placate MP’s who have large Muslim constituencies.
That’s why it’s wrong.

It is, but that doesn't make it wrong.

I'm really pleased with the way the country is being run at present, I'm quite happy to loose my winter fuel allowance but in retrospect they should have taken it from higher rate tax payers only.

It feels so different reading the news now, there are no dramas and scandals but just common sense policies.

I'm glad the Labour landlord is changing his management company, no tenant should have to put up with that.

spabbygirl maybe you need to widen your reading material?

spabbygirl

Oreo

It is just a token action taken just to placate MP’s who have large Muslim constituencies.
That’s why it’s wrong.

It is, but that doesn't make it wrong.

I'm really pleased with the way the country is being run at present, I'm quite happy to loose my winter fuel allowance but in retrospect they should have taken it from higher rate tax payers only.

It feels so different reading the news now, there are no dramas and scandals but just common sense policies.

I'm glad the Labour landlord is changing his management company, no tenant should have to put up with that.

I do so agree. The sleaze and constant scandals are gone, and we seem to have a government that puts service before self.

There are few countries that have a flat rate system (as the UK does). Many, including France, have a salary and contributions (a pay-roll tax) system.

In Germany, for example, the state pension guarantees 51% of an individual’s average earnings, and the payroll tax is 19%, half paid by employees, half by employers. In the US, social security is based on your 15 highest earning years (you have to have paid in for much longer to get the full amount, obviously).

France, as far as I understand it, has two types of compulsory pension, neither private.

The basic state pension pays a maximum of 50% of average earnings, and is based on the highest 25 years salary and how much was paid in social security contributions by employees and employers. Workers need to work for 42 years to get a full state pension. Plus, there is a range of compulsory occupational pensions where employees and employers have to contribute an extra amount, which work on a points system depending on someone’s salary and profession. Private pensions are rare.

If you look at what percentage of GDP countries spend on state pensions, the UK is absolutely one of the worst, spending about 4.5% (and that includes pension payment tax relief) compared to France’s 12% (Germany is about 8%, and the US 7%).

That’s broadly reflected in pensioner poverty, so about 16% of British pensioners (all of them, not just those only on state pensions) live in poverty, compared to 4% in France It’s 10% in Germany and a genuinely shocking 23% in the US - largely because of health care costs, I think, just in case you ever wondered if the NHS is worth it.

A 2022 government report (Pensions: international comparisons Research Briefing) found that even once state and private pensions were aggregated, the UK had a lower-than-average “replacement rate” than the average EU country. Replacement rate is a measure that compares pension earnings to previous income.

“The analysis shows that the UK has an overall net replacement rate of 58.1% from mandatory pensions for an average earner, below the OECD average of 69.1% and the EU average of 70.8%.”

Obviously, that will have increased a little because pensions rose above wage increases in 2023 and 2024, but it won’t be a significant change.

winterwhite

The abrupt axeing of the WFA has turned out to be a reputational mistake. IMO it would be better to postpone it or at least stagger the introduction rather than have a vote.
👍👍 on the H of L and water.

I agree

ronib

spabbygirl maybe you need to widen your reading material?

And the rose tinted glasses discarded too.

WWM I agree with your analysis on WFA and the need to seriously reconsider and I support the back benchers pushing to do so.

Quite a few 👍 on railways, water, HoL, and the appointment of a person to head up Border Security Command.

No rose tinted specs here but after a summer of often quite wild gloom and doom hostile speculation from much of the MSM I welcome at last a chance to debate issues based on actual governance day by day,

and I see a serious government getting down to the nitty gritty of issues left hanging, unfinished, unpriced, not working, previous government.

I feel we have been too quick to forget that the doctor and teacher strikes were tackled as soon as possible - imagine an autumn and winter if they had continued - and the work done on the riots.

Now we can criticise them - try and amend policy where we feel they've got it wrong - on what they actually do as opposed what we have been told they will do all summer

The results of the junior doctors’ ballot are not in yet. FYI 19 September is listed as last day for voting.

Thank you. True, I'm assuming they will follow the guidance of the BMA.

The gps seem to be the next in line to strike?

Sorry not striking. Taking industrial action.

Oreo

On the ‘irregular migration’ subject, tackling the smuggling gangs has already been tried and failed.I would want to know what’s the difference now?I should think that all the groups mentioned including MI5 were already involved before.

Absolutely. It comes down to demand and supply. If you stop the demand,you cut the supply. All those shopping and paying thousands to be smuggled into the UK are customers. If that's stopped, you chop the heads off the hydra, otherwise there will always be others to take their place,its easy money.
Belgium has succefully reduced their illegal immigration, one instance is a law which allows seizure of phones belonging to those attempting to cross, to extract data to help identify the smugglers. A good move. All Starmer will do is give more money to France, to do nothing, and where is the " new border force".? Did they sack someone already doing the job,now they can't replace them?

There has been quite a bit of coverage on French TV this week of the multiple operations undertaken by the French authorities, including the major rescue off Cap Gris Nez and the emergency treatment centre set up in Boulogne.
One thing that French people do comment on a lot is the fact that the UK has no identity cards so it is much easier for people to hide under the radar. They see that as a major reason for people to try to get to the UK.

Thanks Whitewave for continuing this thread, it’s useful having everything in one place for reference.

Good news about the water and the hereditary peers.

I also agree with Angela Rayner that it’s time to build houses for council rent that won’t be sold off in the future (often belong Buy to Lets as 40% currently are). This country needs social housing in my opinion.

Has AR said that any council housing won’t ever be sold off ? I thought I’d read that she didn’t promise that?
As for house building generally, here in the South house building has been an epidemic for the last ten years with no town or village spared literally thousands of new homes.It must have reached saturation point by now.

Freya5

Oreo

On the ‘irregular migration’ subject, tackling the smuggling gangs has already been tried and failed.I would want to know what’s the difference now?I should think that all the groups mentioned including MI5 were already involved before.

Absolutely. It comes down to demand and supply. If you stop the demand,you cut the supply. All those shopping and paying thousands to be smuggled into the UK are customers. If that's stopped, you chop the heads off the hydra, otherwise there will always be others to take their place,its easy money.
Belgium has succefully reduced their illegal immigration, one instance is a law which allows seizure of phones belonging to those attempting to cross, to extract data to help identify the smugglers. A good move. All Starmer will do is give more money to France, to do nothing, and where is the " new border force".? Did they sack someone already doing the job,now they can't replace them?

Quality people take time to recruit. A new integrated role involving all the agencies involved has been proposed, so nobody has been sacked. The agencies involved also need their budgets, which were severely cut over the last 14 years, restored.

It’s good that the new government has been proactive but I think too much has been talked about or promised too soon.
We should also realise that so far it’s all talk and nothing has been really done as yet.
It feels really early to be saying ‘hurray, there are no scandals or sleaze’ as well, five years to go and the Sikh MP with his array of shoddy substandard flats surely counts as a scandal.
It’s difficult to really assess how they’re doing until policies are passed in Parliament and if they work in practice.

Oreo

Has AR said that any council housing won’t ever be sold off ? I thought I’d read that she didn’t promise that?
As for house building generally, here in the South house building has been an epidemic for the last ten years with no town or village spared literally thousands of new homes.It must have reached saturation point by now.

What's the definition of saturation point? Are you honestly saying that there is literally no open space? There are many areas of the world which are more densely populated than the south east.