Oliver Wright

2 days ago | thetimes.com | Oliver Wright |Steven Swinford |Geraldine Scott

What you need to know Sir Keir Starmer has secured improved commitments from France on tackling small boats but this has yet to translate into action on the ground Labour believes a new bill going through the Lords would make a significant difference in its pledge to “smash the gangs” Despite rejecting the Rwanda plan as a “gimmick”, the prime minister’s plan for return hubs has a similar aim, but is still at an early stage Ministers are looking at tightening the rules around Article 8 of the...

4 days ago | thetimes.com | Oliver Wright |Steven Swinford |Adam Sage

Britain is pressing France to “swiftly” close a legal loophole that prevents police from apprehending migrant boats in shallow waters amid growing frustration in government at French inaction. The home secretary told MPs it was “disgraceful and unacceptable” that more than 1,195 migrants had been able to cross the Channel in 18 boats on Saturday, marking a new daily record high for crossings this year.

4 days ago | thetimes.com | Steven Swinford |Oliver Wright

The images have become all too familiar. On Saturday, French police stood on the shore watching as dozens of migrants, including young children, crammed on to a dinghy a few hundred metres off the coast. It has happened often, and in some cases migrants have drowned in front of the watching gendarmes. While it appears unfathomable, the refusal of the police to intervene is ultimately a matter of French rules. The UK is pushing for those rules to change. Why don’t the French police stop more boats?

1 week ago | thetimes.com | Geraldine Scott |Oliver Wright |Max Kendix |Daniel Sanderson

Sir Keir Starmer is facing a revolt from Scottish MPs over welfare cuts amid concerns that Reform is poised to secure a breakthrough in a critical by-election next week. Senior Labour figures are braced for the party to finish third behind the SNP and Reform in the Holyrood by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse. Government whips have been warned by Scottish MPs that they will not back reforms to disability benefits and wider welfare overhauls as a result.

1 week ago | thetimes.com | Steven Swinford |Oliver Wright |Max Kendix

This week could have been very different. On Thursday Sir Keir Starmer was due to be attending a prizegiving ceremony in Germany alongside the great and the good of the European Union. Meetings were arranged on the sidelines with Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, for discussions on illegal migration and Ukraine. On Tuesday all that changed.