The online Immigration and Asylum Bill tracker with marked-up tracked changes of existing legislation is, I think, finished. If you spot any problems or have any feature requests or suggestions on better presentation, just drop me a line. bills.freemovement.org.uk

I read the Defence Investment Plan - and thought it was a bit of a disaster. It imposes austerity on the already hollowed out armed forces, while showering vast amounts of money on an unreformed UK defence sector. A rentiers’ charter that Burnham should scrap👇👇👇👇👇👇 open.substack.com/pub/mafiapol...

The Immigration and Asylum Bill published this week will significantly weaken the UK’s response to trafficking and modern slavery. Read our joint statement which urges parliamentarians to change course, abandon these harmful changes and protect survivors: www.kalayaan.org.uk/uncategorize...

Yesterday I submitted the proofs, index and tables for my forthcoming book 'Human Rights and the Protection of Domestic Workers in Labour and Migration Law.' It's scheduled for publication on 10 September 2026 and available for pre-order :) global.oup.com/academic/pro...

If you want some hand crafted, artisan, any mistakes human's own, analysis and explanation of the bill, then I am slowly working through the five parts and posting here: thoughtsonimmigration.substack.com

Joanna Ewart-James from @freedomunitedhq.bsky.social kindly invited me to a conversation about labour exploitation in Israel/Palestine following the war, based on my recent research (link below). The recording is available here: www.freedomunited.org/war-work-isr...

I think that the worst thing about the "refugee tax" is that the high accommodation costs are caused by the Home Office, and in particular their inability to make fast AND accurate decisions, leaving people rotting in those grim places. Refugees are effectively being fined for HO incompetence.

Great way to disincentivise refugees from working and integrating. Also, we refuse to let them support themselves, force them to live in taxpayer funded accommodation for years and then force them to pay back some of the cost? Morally indefensible. How is this different from the far right?

A quarter of terror attacks in Britain over the past decade have targeted Muslims, but some have gone largely unnoticed because of delays formally declaring them terrorism Most jihadist attacks, by contrast, have been declared within hours of taking place inews.co.uk/news/uk-terr...

Vital that refugee stories like these get told so that people don’t just disappear behind the demonization and misrepresentation that is now so widespread

235 Palestinian children and teenagers have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, and another five by settlers, since 7 October 2023 without accountability, in a system described as a “licence to kill” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Four survivors of forced labor on a cattle ranch in the Amazon have won a historic legal victory against Volkswagen’s Brazilian subsidiary, as a court in Pará state ordered the company to pay each survivor two million reais (about $390,000) in damages www.freedomunited.org/news/landmar...

I can't emphasise enough how bad this proposal is. Last week alone there were two reports out which highlight what a bad idea it is. First was the ICIBI report on asylum casework which noted a drop in quality of decisions when recruitment standards were lowered: open.substack.com/pub/thoughts...

Thanks @thenerve.news for making If We Tolerate This one of its summer books picks of 2026.

@alfdubs.bsky.social remains one of the staunchest defendants of refugee rights. He is, as usual, absolutely correct here. I won't hold my breath, but Burnham should absolutely rip up Starmer and Mahmood's entire legacy of hostile immigration and asylum policies. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Typing is apparently how I am coping with the heatwave. My third Substack in under 24 hours. This one on UNCHR UK's response to the proposals for an independent appeals body. It is important that we all get on top of this stuff ahead of Tuesday. open.substack.com/pub/thoughts...

S'alright guys, Sharon Graham's out there demanding we keep drilling for oil in the North Sea

Surreal to read that Mahmood is in ‘talks to exempt care workers’ from settlement changes, as if the impact on them was an unfortunate side effect and not the imposition of a higher threshold (15 years instead of 10 for others) deliberately targeting them www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Making legal aid inaccessible wasn't enough to satisfy the government. Now, the last remaining safeguard for refugees against the Home Office is to be removed. open.substack.com/pub/thoughts...

Leaving aside the political/personal/personnel drama, it should be absolutely clear to Burnham/his team that these proposals have disintegrated on contact with reality. Much better to ditch them or at least have another round of consultation on more realistic/sensible options.

When you think Mike Tapp is too lenient on immigration it is time to pack up and just join Reform.

I am still stunned by how catastrophically poor this is. There's a tendency to assume that Mahmood, however harsh, must be more competent than the Home Secs before her. She clearly has no grip on her department, nor any understanding of the work needed to fix it. These figures are appalling.

A school boy was sent home from school for wearing cornrows! Read my analysis of the courts decision in my published journal article academic.oup.com/ilj/advance-...

Interesting paper here on "quitting" among care workers. Reminds me that we used to have movies like "9 to 5" and songs like "Take this Job and Shove It" that restored the sense you didn't have to take abuse at work. anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee finds govt’s “earned” settlement proposals will will harm integration, make it impossible for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups to settle, cause child poverty, and increase labour exploitation of sponsored workers www.workrightscentre.org/publications...

Thinking of @praxisprojects.bsky.social service users who live in unsuitable housing, struggle with destitution and poverty, who are at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping. Extreme temperatures are unmanageable in these conditions and it's dangerous/scary. Migrant justice is climate justice.

Changing the retrospective effect of these plans is essential but nowhere near enough. Keeping people who arrive in future in a state of uncertainty and insecurity (and subject to huge costs) when they ought to be able to settle here as part of the community is also pointlessly unfair and cruel.

No decision made yet, but following through on this and scrapping the grossly unfair proposals to triple care for workers’ route to settlement is essential for Burnham to show principle and distinguish himself from the mess we’ve seen under Starmer and Mahmood inews.co.uk/news/politic...

10 years ago, people went to cast their votes in a referendum that would define the next decade. Our broken democracy, our divided society, our corrupt state - not caused by Brexit, but emboldened by it. Brexit is a dead end. It's time to change course. www.anothereurope.org/10-years-on-...

Join us on Sunday 12 July 2pm for an afternoon of kite flying, community and solidarity with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. 🔗 actionnetwork.org/events/this-...

New substack dropped, this time on immigration costs and who bears them. ‘What I (and many migrant friends) have found out over the years is that even in progressive, lefty, comradely spaces, visa and immigration issues are just not a thing that is talked about.’ open.substack.com/pub/findingw...

Photos from our panel on sexual harassment and the ERA 2025 at Unison NDC. We heard Rachel Halliday (Thompsons Solicitors) and Dr Natalie Sedacca (Durham Law School) on enforcement gaps, employer duties, and preventing harassment at work. Thanks to Joanne Moorcroft for chairing!

The Palestine movement must seek power over purity To confront a genocidal regime, we need to translate global attention into measurable achievements and build coalitions in every arena of influence. www.972mag.com/palestine-bd...

“Had the BBC conducted even a basic internet search of Cain’s background, executives are likely to have discovered Cain’s extensive history of offensive social media postings, as well as the 2015 report… alleging that he had posted sexually explicit footage of a woman without her consent.”

In the wake of recent attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, and suggestions of two-tier policing, this blog by Darrell Ennis-Gayle and Bríd Doherty, both on the HJA DEI Committee, explores the facts based on empirical evidence and statistical data www.hja.net/expert-comme...

A podcast post on my substack. I spoke to @stellathegreek.bsky.social who was in the Makerfield constituency last week, about the atmosphere on the ground, what went wrong for the Starmer government and what might come next. substack.com/@lukecooper/...

Today is International Domestic Workers Day. Evelyn spent 6 months trapped in her employer's flat in the UK. Never took the bus. Never held a British pound. The UK's overseas domestic worker visa makes this possible. It needs to change. Sign the petition: www.freedomunited.org/advocate/uk-...

It's International Domestic Workers Day 🔊 To mark IDWD2026, we're launching our Domestic Work is Work campaign! We join migrant domestic workers and call on the UK Government to finally ratify @ilo.org Convention 189 and recognise that domestic work is real work! #internationaldomesticworkersday

New on @labourblog.bsky.social : how “transit loophole” treats migrant fishing workers as if not legally present in the UK, with lack of immigration status creating structural vulnerability and denial of labour rights uklabourlawblog.com/2026/06/16/s... - by Angeli Romero @focusonlabour.bsky.social

Reminder of our joint @unison.org.uk conference fringe meeting with Unison North West today. Chaired by Joanne Moorcroft, Unison North West Rachel Halliday, Thompsons Solicitors Natalie Sedacca, Durham Law School Tuesday 16th June - Syndicate 1 Theatre 160, 12:45. See you there.

Israeli exporters to Europe regularly hide the origin of produce grown in occupied Palestine to qualify for unlawful tax breaks that bolster the settler economy, investigation by legal non-profit Global Echo finds www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

The inquiry was set up before the 2024 election.

Looking forward to speaking at this event tomorrow, reflecting on strengths, weaknesses and uncertainties of the amendments on harassment in the Employment Rights Act 2025

Switzerland, final results: No to Switzerland of 10 Million (Initiative) Support: 45.21% Oppose: 54.79% Turnout: 58.86% NB: This vote also requires double-majority (People & Cantons (Regions)) to pass. ➤ europeelects.eu/switzerland #CHvote #Abst26 #Votazioni #Votaziuns

ILO agrees Convention 193, Concerning Decent Work in the Platform Economy, described as ‘broad enough to ensure access to rights regardless of classification’ and addressing many key issues eg algorithmic management, safety & health, and collective bargaining www.solidaritycenter.org/platform-wor...

Govt contractor Mitie has launched an an investigation into allegations of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and hate speech among staff working in immigration removal centres after allegations from whistleblowers of offensive comments at work & on social media www.theguardian.com/business/202...

My paper 'State-Mediated Structural Injustice' forthcoming in Cordelli (ed), Structural Injustice, NOMOS: Yearbook of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, NYU Press, 2027 available below. I enjoyed a brilliant conference at University of Chicago. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Under Labour we've seen acceptance rates on asylum claims plummet on initial decisions, for Afghas from more than 95% to less than 40%. That leaves people reliant on appeals to ensure they can get the safety which this government is determined to deny everyone. #r4today www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So glad that Luqman Saeed - an academic at Ulster University - has written this piece about the Belfast riots. I hope I could write this clearly and perceptively were I under similar pressure right now. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ju...

Great to see Rayner criticise grossly unfair tripling of settlement period, plus call to raise care workers' wages and not to tie visas to specific employers, recognising it increases exploitation risk. Burnham should follow instead of doubling down on anti-migrant line www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...