Will the UK-France migrant returns deal stop the boats? Latest podcast from TheStory by @thetimes.com: open.spotify.com/episode/4W7X...

Excl: Some of the UK's most prominent lawyers have warned Starmer that his pledge to recognise Palestine breaks international law Lord Pannick, who represented the government against claims the Rwanda scheme breached international law, is among 40 peers who have written to the AG t.co/2naeSnZhhA

Excl: Europeans to be allowed to move to the UK for more than a year under EU youth mobility scheme: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

New: 1,194 migrants crossed the Channel in 18 boats yesterday, the Home Office has said. That's the highest daily figure so far this year and takes the total number to 14,811, the highest ever record in the first five months of a year and 42% higher than this time last year.

The French authorities prevented just 184 of the roughly 1,400 migrants who attempted crossing the Channel yesterday: www.premar-manche.gouv.fr/communiques-...

EXCL: Keir Starmer is pressing ahead with migrant 'return hubs' in the Balkans despite MI6 warning they could be hijacked by Russian spies: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Excl: Britain to ask Kosovo to take rejected asylum seekers as part of Keir Starmer's new plan for 'return hubs': www.thetimes.com/article/206a...

Why mandatory chemical castration will never happen in the UK and how it was used by the government as a cynical dead cat strategy to distract from hugely unpopular measures to release killers and rapists: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Excl: Britain faces "horrible reality” of releasing prisoners early as part of long-term fix to the prisons crisis, Shabana Mahmood admits. Full and frank interview with @thetimes.com as she prepares to announce major shakeup of sentencing laws on Thursday: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Excl: 40,000 criminals will be electronically monitored at any one time as part of a mass expansion of tagging technology to be at the heart of sentencing reforms Shabana Mahmood has secured £700m from Treasury to quadruple the number of criminals tagged www.thetimes.com/article/b63c...

Why the OBR isn't fully accounting for the impact of immigration on the public finances, according to the Home Office, immigration experts and the Prime Minister's chief of staff: www.thetimes.com/article/b69a...

Other lines: - PM's aides have set an informal net migration target of 200k by next election. - Immigration White Paper will also set out plans to restrict judges' interpretation of Article 8 of the ECHR (family rights). - Law change will also restrict what counts as a 'family connection'

Excl: The Home Office fears that long-term immigration will be higher than expected and believes the government is overstating the benefits of migration: www.thetimes.com/article/0a9b...

Excl: All migrants will have to learn a higher standard of English under plans to ensure they integrate into society. The Immigration White Paper will also restrict employers' ability to hire foreign workers if they don't train up domestic workers: www.thetimes.com/article/a46c...

The cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels and other temporary accommodation has ballooned to three times as much as the Home Office originally estimated - to £15.3 billion, according to the National Audit Office: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Excl: The Home Office will restrict work and study visa applications from nationalities including Pakistanis, Nigerians and Sri Lankans who are most likely to overstay and claim asylum. The plans will be unveiled as part of Keir Starmer's Immigration White Paper: www.thetimes.com/article/c6fe...

Excl: Domestic abusers must be exempt from the government's sentencing reforms that will make greater use of alternatives to custody, its domestic abuse commissioner has said: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

More than 10,000 migrants have now arrived in the UK on small boats so far this year, the Home Office has confirmed. It's the earliest in the year the 10,000 mark has been reached (it wasn't hit until May 24th last year) And it's 44% higher than this time last year.

New data reveals that 16,231 prisoners were released from jail early between September 10-December 31st under Labour's emergency prisoner release scheme. The standard determinate 40% scheme (SDS40) releases prisoners after serving just 40% of their sentence.

Excl: The Prevent programme is failing to tackle the link between terrorism and organised crime, says leading criminologist awarded funding to investigate the link: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Excl: The first supermarket to open inside a prison: www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

Excl: Incels should be offered dating coaches, says world-leading expert on the misogynistic subculture: www.thetimes.com/article/8dda...

Excl: The UNHCR has endorsed Labour’s plan to deport failed asylum seekers to 'return hubs' in third countries. This is a significant development because it was the UNHCR which ultimately collapsed the Rwanda scheme: www.thetimes.com/article/ae4c...

Inside Frankland prison a week on from the brutal attack by Hashem Abedi on three prison guards: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

The Home Office has confirmed that yesterday saw a record daily number of migrants arrive in small boats. 705 in 12 dinghies. It takes the total for this year to 8,888 in 159 boats (highest on record and 42% higher than this time last year).

Excl: Further outbreaks of unrest in prisons yesterday as specialist officers trained to deal with riots were sent in to HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire. A prisoner had been taken hostage and inmates had got on the roof and climbed up netting on the wings: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Excl: Young knife crime offenders should be forced to do national service, says 'citizens panel' held by @PRTuk to assess the public's attitudes to sentencing. It also found that the public wants to see offenders punished with more visible community orders: www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

Excl: Immigration white paper delayed until after Easter due to lack of agreement across cabinet and to appease businesses already reeling from US tariffs. The paper will lay out Labour's plans to reduce net migration, which stood at 728,000 last year: www.thetimes.com/article/1f6c...

EXCL: Eritreans are by far the largest nationality crossing the Channel in small boats this year with more than 1,200 arriving so far: Cheaper prices by smugglers are attracting increasingly poorer migrants to make the journey: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Donald Trump's government agrees to a crackdown on people smugglers that use US social media platforms to advertise small boat crossings: www.thetimes.com/uk/social-me...

EXCL: Stopping all small boat crossings is unrealistic, says Major General Duncan Capps, the man in charge of Britain's operational response in the Channel. Here's his interview with @thetimes.com: www.thetimes.com/article/e5c9...

Also in this piece: How next week's Border Security Summit being held in London next week had to be renamed because it kept being referred to as the “BS” summit!

EXCL: An FBI-style ‘Most Wanted’ list will be drawn up by the security services, the Home Office and the NCA to target the top 100 most dangerous people smugglers to Britain: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/most...

It was only in 2022 that Labour forced the government to rip out solar panels in prisons across the country after exposing how they contained parts made by Uighur Muslims in forced labour camps: www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

Excl: The Home Office has cancelled its contract with a large supplier of hotels for poor performance and profiteering. And it is bringing in the firm that ran the Bibby Stockholm barge: www.thetimes.com/article/8370...

Excl: Three in four court cases are still processed in paper form despite a £1.5 billion, nine year 'modernisation' programme that finishes this month: www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

Excl: Treasury admits migrants will be housed in hotels for years as it orders the Home Office to find cheaper providers. A document setting out an audit of asylum accommodation rails at "profiteering" by the private contractors: www.thetimes.com/article/bf76...

Josh Babarinde was just four years old when he was first abused by his mother’s ex-partner. Now he's trying to change the law to better protect victims of domestic abuse. Read the Lib Dem MP's story in @thetimes.com here: www.thetimes.com/article/1caa... @joshbabarinde.bsky.social

EXCL: Failed asylum seekers could be sent to offshore 'return hubs' in the Balkans and other third countries under Labour's alternative to the Rwanda scheme: www.thetimes.com/article/b449...

Excl: Number of failed asylum seekers waiting for an appeal has soared 500% in 2 years. It's blocking efforts to move migrants out of hotels Ministers are planning to change the law to force courts to halve asylum appeals. Read for free on @thetimes.com tonight: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Read The Times and Sunday Times for free this weekend at thetimes.com

Excl: Guidance handed to judges says migrants are being treated badly by the right-wing media in the UK. It also uses a controversial definition of Islamophobia that has been criticised for creating a de-facto blasphemy law: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The alleged Palestinian militant who arrived in a small boat last Thursday posted a video of himself throwing a pipe bomb at Israeli soldiers: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Excl: New sentencing guidelines urging special treatment for ethnic and religious minorities were drawn up on the back of recommendations in David Lammy's race disparities review: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Excl: The raft of new criminal offences Labour is creating in its Crime and Policing Bill will only lead to between 13-55 more people sent to prison each year: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Excl: Albanian criminal jailed for more than 3 years for running a cannabis farm was spared deportation because it would deprive his daughter of a "male role model": www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

The extreme right-wing satanist online community that uses extortion to force children to commit acts of violence and has inspired school massacres in the US gaining traction in the UK: www.thetimes.com/uk/society/a...

Excl: The Home OFfice wrongly treated hundreds of child asylum seekers as adults last year, placing them in hotels and detention centres alone with adults: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Prolific offenders will be offered the chance to avoid prison if they agree to intensive rehab courses. Shabana Mahmood is planning the reforms as part of a major expansion of community sentences. It's another key reform she learnt from Texas this week: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Inside a supermax prison in Texas where Britain is seeking to learn lessons to deliver long-term reform to our broken justice system: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...