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Burnham: Britain must be bolder about moving closer to EU

  Prime Minister’s comments raise fears of climbdown on European students’ fees at British universities Daily Telegraph 24/08/26 Britain must be bolder to get closer to the EU, Andy Burnham has said. The Prime Minister, who has previously said he would like to rejoin the EU, told António Costa, the president of the European Council, that the country “had to be bolder in terms of getting closer to the bloc”. He also promised during discussions with senior EU figures to forge deeper relations on education, culture, defence and security. Mr Burnham’s comments will raise fears that, to achieve a broader “Brexit reset” deal with the bloc, he may agree to reduce tuition fees for EU students at British universities. Advertisement The Telegraph reported in June that Sir Keir Starmer had agreed to the concession to secure closer economic ties. However, his plans were shelved after he announced his resignation as prime minister. A Downing Street spokesman said that, in a discussion with L...
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Ed Miliband is the most tragic kind of overgrown student politician

  The ideologically-driven Foreign Secretary appears to have no understanding of realpolitik Daily Telegraph 21/08/26 “Speak softly and carry a big stick” – that was the art of diplomacy according to Theodore Roosevelt . “Speak aggressively and carry a tiny stick” – that’s the new version according to Ed Miliband. The Foreign Secretary this week waded in over a controversial new settlement in the West Bank . Israel wants to build 1,200 homes there. Miliband called it an “unacceptable and destructive act”. The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, rejected his “patronising” statement. The settlers in the West Bank have indeed behaved appallingly. And no one could accuse Miliband of being anti-Semitic. Jewish himself, he has ancestors on both sides that were killed in the Holocaust. Advertisement But the point is he’s intervening in a situation Britain has no leverage in. Upsetting diplomatic relations to no effect is next to useless. The art of diplomacy is more sophisticated and ...
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Those illegal migrant ‘rape’ booklets shame the British state

  If asylum seekers need to be told not to sexually abuse women and children, what are they doing in the UK? Spiked - 20/08/26 For years, the British public has been told that it is unequivocally racist to draw any connection between illegal immigration and sex offending. Yet this link – so often derided as a ‘far right’ conspiracy theory and a ‘racist dog whistle’ – has just been made by none other than the British government. ‘In the UK, both people must say “yes” to sex’, states a Home Office-produced ‘guide for asylum seekers’ . ‘Child abuse is a serious crime in the UK’, explains another booklet, titled ‘Understanding behaviours and expectations in the UK’. This one informs illegal migrants that they must not have ‘sex or sexual contact with a child under 16’, ‘physically hurt a child’ or ‘cut or harm a girl’s genitals (female genital mutilation)’. This ‘promotional material’ – to use the Home Office’s unfortunate choice of words – was released on Wednesday. These revelations...
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Record number of foreigners claiming benefits

  EU citizens account for the biggest proportion of total migrants receiving Universal Credit Daily Telegraph 19/08/26 The number of foreigners claiming benefits hit a fresh high, days after Reform promised to ban claims by overseas nationals. Almost 1.3 million migrants were claiming Universal Credit (UC) in May 2026, according to figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions, roughly 20,000 higher than a year ago. Citizens from the EU accounted for the biggest proportion of the total, with about half of the foreigners claiming Britain’s main unemployment benefit coming from the Continent. Those with indefinite leave to remain, who have usually lived and worked in the UK for at least five years, accounted for 233,000 of the total. Foreign nationals can generally start claiming welfare on the same terms as British citizens once they are granted settled status or indefinite leave to remain. Asylum seekers are also eligible after they have been granted refugee status. The...
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Reform pledges to make jobless clean streets for benefits

  Claimants fit to work would have to volunteer for 20 hours a week, says Robert Jenrick Daily Telegraph 17/08/26 Benefits claimants who have been jobless for more than a year could have to clean streets to keep their payments under a Reform UK government. Robert Jenrick , Reform’s Treasury spokesman, announced on Monday that Britons on benefits and fit to work would have to volunteer for 20 hours a week. At a press conference in central London, Mr Jenrick said many of the 6.6 million working-age people claiming joblessness benefits were “really taking advantage of their fellow citizens, their friends, their neighbours and community”. Mr Jenrick said: “If taxpayers must contribute, so must the able recipients of their support who can as well. I am therefore announcing that a Reform government will introduce a Welfare to Work scheme. “This will require long-term benefits claimants, who are fit to work, to provide 20 hours a week of work for their community, organised by their local ...
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