I mentioned this in this morning's Substack, but worth highlighting here too for those who keep seeing myself and others discussing the worsening of Home Office stakeholder engagement in recent years. From this case: www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...

If I’m understanding the Home Office’s trial age assessment tech, it gets people’s ages wrong by an *average* of 2.5-3 years, is inaccurate for the most crucial cohort (teenagers) and is worse in assessing women/girls and non-white people (umm…) but they’re going for it anyway, because computer

We won! The Home Office’s changes to their “Allocation of Asylum Accommodation Policy” have been found to be unlawful. The changes forced survivors of torture to share rooms with strangers, placing them at risk of harm. We will never give up fighting for dignity and justice for survivors.

🚨 WE CHALLENGED THE GOVERNMENT IN COURT — AND WON!  Today is a huge victory for survivors of trafficking & torture.  We successfully challenged unlawful policy changes affecting survivors of torture and trafficking 🧵 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Thanks to litigation by @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social & @helenbamber.bsky.social the High Court has found that the Government acted unlawfully in introducing changes to the asylum accommodation policy without consultation with experts or due regard to equalities duties tinyurl.com/yujhedzf

As expected, the King's Speech legislative programme includes a forthcoming bill on reforming/tightening asylum and human rights law www.gov.uk/government/p...

Sigh

Launch event this Friday at the May Day Rooms of a comic based on lived experience of 8 young men who crossed from Libya to Italy as minors in the hope of a better future. interregnum.ghost.io/comic-book-launch-24-april-2026-the-game-of-chance/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

The Home Office has extended the deadline for responding to this call for evidence to 6th May, but hasn't yet updated the webpage or issued public comms. If you want to confirm this, just email [email protected] & you'll get an automated message with the extension info.

As Bluesky was down (for me at least), I did my rage posting in here instead: open.substack.com/pub/thoughts...

Reviewing refugee status every 30 months will be a bureaucratic nightmare for the Home Office, already drowning in backlogs. The Refugee Council estimates that these reviews will cost over £1 billion to the taxpayer over the next decade. #asylumreforms

Ahead of her question on asylum policies and child poverty, Baroness Lister has written a piece for @politicshome.bsky.social criticising the Govt's reduction in the duration of refugee leave www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Interested to see that ICIBI will be looking at (among other things): pre-appeal review process - an important stage at which HO could be identifying & correcting flawed asylum decisions ahead of appeal hearing. And adults at risk, bearing in mind HO plans to radically reduce these protections.

Together Alliance march, Green Park

Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Cttee published its report on the statement of changes that brings in 30-month refugee leave, which goes live today. Important read if you're doing advocacy on this. @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social & @helenbamber.bsky.social put in evidence tinyurl.com/mmnf9trv

Thank you @stellacreasy.bsky.social for already tabling the motion opposing today’s immigration rules changes. The government should allow scrutiny of their plans and schedule a debate on this motion. edm.parliament.uk/early-day-mo...

The statement of changes to the immigration rules www.gov.uk/government/p... and the written statement (which goes wider than the rules changes) are now out questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

Watching 60 seconds of this film shifted "Britain should protect refugees fleeing war and persecution" to 67% agree, 9% disagree (+58) from baseline 57% agree, 16% disagree (+41) in split sample test. Images & voices of Ukranians had + impact on attitudes in 2022. Govt messages may do the opposite

The conditions of support policy, which already existed, has seemingly just had a minor change made today, to add illegal working to the list of reasons support can be stopped www.gov.uk/government/p...

Tony Vaughan has a settlement rebellion in backbench signatures, double the welfare one. Neil Duncan-Jordan is another leading public advocate. Mahmood says 'transitional arrangements' are a consultation issue, where 200k responses were received, so decisions are "later this year" + "in due course"

A perfect bit of analysis right here 👇. While parts of the world burn, the Govt is busy making pointless but ultimately cruel & dangerous tweaks to work & study visas so that refugees fleeing the kind of chaos that we are seeing on our screens find it even harder to find safety in the UK. Well done!

Written statement on the asylum changes confirms: - refugees will get 2.5 years leave instead of 5 - covers people who apply from today - details of 20 year settlement & core protection to come - doesn’t apply to unaccompanied children (for now) questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

Yusuf: "When Nigel is prime minister, there will not be a judge in the country that will be able to prevent flights from leaving." Worth noting that the political precedents for saying, 'The judiciary cannot in any way check the powers of the executive' is not a happy one.

I'd argue that setting out the retrospective stripping of ILR, and plans for mass, ICE-style arrests, detentions and deportations, is a moment of some risk for Reform, despite immigration being their main policy focus, if and when voters realise what it will mean in practice.

Not content with seeking to dismantle constitutional safeguards that protect our democracy, Farage gunning for Church of England which has, in his words "gone to the dogs". Was its greatest crime allowing transfer of 41 churches to other places of worship or opposing his stance on refugee rights?

The government’s plan to make refugees wait up to 20 years to settle in the UK would leave people stuck in limbo, unable to properly put down roots, build careers, pursue education or feel a sense of belonging. Research across Europe shows that long-term uncertainty doesn’t support integration 🧵

Haven't seen as much coverage of Foreign Sec's migration cooperation negotiations with Ethiopia (compared to Iraq/KRI migration pact) & wondering how this will work. Ethiopians constitute v small proportion of small boat population so more about stopping Eritreans/Sudanese....? tinyurl.com/29fv5uzm

Useful resource for anyone submitting a response to Earned Settlement proposals from perspective of refugees - Home Office research on refugee mental health & access to employment: highlights barriers caused by mental ill health & need for e.g. benefits & secure housing www.gov.uk/government/p...

Ann Salter, @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social head of clinical services in the north west writes in the @bmj.com about the harmful & retraumatising impact of housing survivors of torture in large sites & former military barracks www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Today is #InternationalHumanRightsDay, and also the day when UK and EU leaders discuss weaken the rights of people fleeing war and persecution. If the European Convention on Human Rights is to be reformed, it must be to strengthen it, not undermine it. Read our statement for #Humanrightsday here 👇

The UK government's proposals on changes to settlement (indefinite leave to remain) rules have now been published in a consultation paper, ahead of a statement from the Home Secretary to MPs shortly www.gov.uk/government/c...

My spirit animal joins us (and I am particularly feeling him this week)!

The day after Home Sec announced a raft of punitive policies that deny refugees the safety & stability they need to rebuild their lives, @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social joins @helenbamber.bsky.social in challenging Govt’s failure to consult experts ahead of harmful changes to asylum housing policy

Leaving the ECHR won't stop people risking their lives through Channel crossings but it WOULD harm the rights of both migrants in the UK & our wider communities. On 75th Anniversary of ECHR, we call on politicians to stop scapegoating & defend human rights. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

FfT has published 'A Place to Heal' a powerful report centring the voices of those in asylum housing & exposing the devastating harm it causes to survivors. The solutions are simple: ✅ Better quality & faster asylum decisions to manage numbers ✅ Locally-tailored, well-resourced housing

I'm just gonna pop this here for any Sun readers who are interested in why refugees actually come to the UK... from @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social report Fleeing a Burning House: www.freedomfromtorture.org/sites/defaul...

Confirmation published yesterday by the Home Office, that Napier barracks will continue to be used to house people seeking asylum until December 2025. It was due to close in September this year following years of criticism and labelled as 'squalid' by a High Court judge: www.gov.uk/government/p...

For anyone despairing at Labour’s “soft surrender” to Reform…. www.bigissue.com/opinion/labour-reform-immigration-policy-racism/

The vast majority of our clients detained under "one in, one out" scheme are survivors of torture and trafficking. Our independent clinicians have visited clients in immigration removal centres and found concerning levels of PTSD and suicidal thoughts www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Last week the government suspended new refugee family reunion applications. This devastating move will deny family life to refugees. It will simply punish those who have already suffered. The Home Secretary must restore refugee family reunion rights and build strong communities.

Confirmation of new migration ministers in the Home Office. Alex Norris takes over the asylum brief from Angela Eagle, while Mike Tapp is the new migration minister

I’m gonna politely disagree with some commentators who’ve excused Labour’s actions on refugee rights by focusing on the occasional reference to compassion. Haven’t seen much compassion from front bench this week www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/05/grim-migrant-bashing-labour-yvette-cooper

🚨 Nigel Farage is in Birmingham today, where he'll be talking about Reform's plans to try to send torture survivors into the arms of their torturers. So here's a new billboard to show who has come out to back his new plan. 📍near Reform’s party conference, Birmingham

So the govt is closing refugee family reunion for all practical purposes for the time being. Applying the usual family migration rules to refugees means they will need to be earning at least £29,000 a year. After spending possibly years in asylum accommodation and not being allowed to work.

Cooper will shortly be providing a statement to parliament on her plans for asylum reforms, including reforms to restrict access to refugee family reunion and speeding up processing of asylum appeals www.parliamentlive.tv/Commons

Finally, the text of the UK/France migration treaty Some comments 1/ www.gov.uk/government/p...

Well, in a dramatic twist that will surprise no-one, Philp has used the opportunity of the Government’s dog-whistle white paper on immigration to explain how the Conservatives could do all of the above & more + without any of the pesky human rights constraints that Labour is barely clinging on to.

New from FM: What is in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill? | Colin Yeo

The Bill is out: bills.parliament.uk/bills/3929

Second reading will be on 10th February, according to the business statement (bill isn't published yet though)