More than 400 migrants arrive in the UK crossing the Channel in small boats

According to Home Office figures, 437 people made the crossing on Friday June 20 in seven boats, bringing the total for the year so far to 17,817.
This compares to 12,313 by the same date in 2024 and 10,518 in 2023 while 11,690 had made the crossing by June 20 in 2022.
The latest arrivals come after Sir Keir Starmer said the situation was 'deteriorating' and threatened a visa crackdown.
The Prime Minister signalled that countries which did not do enough to tackle the irregular migration crisis, for example by taking back failed asylum seekers, could face repercussions in the numbers of visas issued to their citizens.
Sir Keir's message came as French police were seen to employ more robust tactics on the beaches this week including using teargas.
But they were also seen to stand by and watch once migrants had entered the water to board a dinghy in the hope of crossing the English Channel.

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The Independent

an hour ago

• The Independent

Kneecap Glastonbury slot ‘not appropriate', says Starmer

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not think Kneecap's planned Glastonbury Festival performance is 'appropriate'. He made the comments after Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh appeared in court on Wednesday, after being charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah while saying 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah' at a gig in November last year. In an interview with The Sun, Sir Keir was asked if he thought the trio should perform at Glastonbury, to which he replied: 'No, I don't, and I think we need to come down really clearly on this. 'This is about the threats that shouldn't be made, I won't say too much because there's a court case on, but I don't think that's appropriate.' It comes after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said she thought the BBC 'should not be showing' Kneecap's performance at the festival next week. Mrs Badenoch said in the X post, which was accompanied by an article from The Times that claimed the BBC had not banned the group: 'The BBC should not be showing Kneecap propaganda. 'One Kneecap band member is currently on bail, charged under the Terrorism Act. 'As a publicly funded platform, the BBC should not be rewarding extremism.' The Tory Leader of the Opposition has previously called for the group to be banned from Glastonbury, and last year Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK Government in Belfast High Court after she tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister. Kneecap took aim at Mrs Badenoch in their latest single, The Recap, released just before their headline set at London's Wide Awake festival in May, with the song mocking the politician's attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party's election loss. On Wednesday, O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in 'Free Mo Chara' T-shirts. During the proceedings, a prosecutor told the court the 27-year-old is 'well within his rights' to voice his opinions on Israel and Palestine, but the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, is a 'wholly different thing'. O hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on August 20. Following the hearing, the rapper said: 'For anybody going to Glastonbury, you can see us there at 4pm on the Saturday. 'If you can't be there we'll be on the BBC, if anybody watches the BBC. We'll be at Wembley in September. 'But most importantly: free, free Palestine.' The charge came following a counter-terrorism police investigation after the historical gig footage came to light, which also allegedly shows the group calling for the deaths of MPs. In April, Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been 'exploited and weaponised'. In an initial post in response to the charge, Kneecap said: '14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us. 'We deny this 'offence' and will vehemently defend ourselves, this is political policing, this is a carnival of distraction. 'We are not the story, genocide is, as they profit from genocide, they use an 'anti-terror law' against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn't have a jury. What's the objective? 'To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out. 'Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification. 'The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.' Formed in 2017, the group are known for their provocative lyrics in both Irish and English and their merchandise. Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag. A BBC spokesperson said: 'As the broadcast partner, the BBC will be bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers. 'Whilst the BBC doesn't ban artists, our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines. Decisions about our output will be made in the lead-up to the festival.'

Daily Mirror

an hour ago

• Daily Mirror

Brit arrested on suspicion of spying and terror-related offences at RAF base

A British man with alleged links to Iran has been arrested on suspicion of espionage and terrorism offences in Cyprus. The man is reported to have kept the RAF Akrotiri base on the island under surveillance and is alleged to have links with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, local media reported. A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We are in contact with the authorities in Cyprus regarding the arrest of a British man.' RAF Akrotiri is the UK's most important airbase for operations in the Middle East. The Philenews website said the man was arrested on Friday following intelligence he was planning an imminent terrorist attack. He is alleged to have lived in a flat in Zakaki, Limassol, close to Akrotiri and was observed near the base carrying a camera with a long lens and three mobile phones. Local reports suggested he was Azerbaijani but the UK Foreign Office said they were working with the authorities over the arrest of a Briton. RAF Typhoon jets from Akrotiri were used to defend Israel from Iranian drone and missile attacks last year, although they have not been involved in the current fighting between the two Middle East rivals. The base is also used for flights as part of Operation Shader to counter Islamic State militants. In a sign of some of the more sensitive activity at the base, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visited Akrotiri in December last year and said 'quite a bit of what goes on here can't necessarily be talked about all of the time'. Security at RAF bases is under scrutiny after Palestine Action protesters entered the Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire and vandalised two aircraft. RAF Brize Norton serves as the hub for UK strategic air transport and refuelling, including flights to RAF Akrotiri.

Telegraph

an hour ago

• Telegraph

Don't trust two-tier Keir on Palestine Action. He hasn't turned sound

If a mystic with a crystal ball asked you last week to guess which political leader would try to ban a group with 'Palestine' in the name, you'd have plumped for Donald Trump. Turns out, however, it was Keir Starmer. I speak of Palestine Action, the neo-Corbynite clowns who infiltrated RAF Brize Norton on electric scooters to sabotage strategic aircraft. The Government says it will ban them as terrorists for their trouble. Has the Prime Minster finally gone sound? Has he heck. The petulant hoodlums will complain that unlike Hamas and the other groups on the list, they weren't trying to bomb anybody. That argument will probably prevail; the ban must win the support of both MPs and peers before coming into force, so it may never materialise. No, it's all about the headlines. Nigel Farage demanded that Palestine Action be proscribed in the morning and by the afternoon, Starmer had claimed the oxygen for his own. This created the impression that the Government takes our national security seriously, stands against the irritating Gaza radicals and is determined to crack down on treason. No need to vote Reform then, eh? He's a slippery fish, that prime minister. This is the most unprincipled government in living memory and its playbook is always the same. Wrongfoot and gaslight the public while advancing an agenda that nobody has voted for. Mark my words. After this, Starmer's betrayal of Israel will continue apace. Take the child sex gangs. The inquiry was a controlled explosion of a political landmine with senior Labour figures protected by spin. Meanwhile, this was Death Week, with infanticide and geronticide, neither of which were in Labour's manifesto, forced through the Commons. Thus the Government emerges as the shadowy winner while the country and its despairing people have lost. The same pattern can be seen in everything from the economy to immigration and defence. Starmer talks tough, cracks out a little U-turn, then when the heat has passed, pushes on with his agenda, making superficial modifications to throw us off the scent. Last week, for instance, it emerged that our rising defence budget will also fund Heathrow's third runway, reduce food prices and bolster supply chains. The Prime Minister told us he was serious about defending the realm, but he didn't really mean it. The Palestine Action episode is the same. This government is now the most Israelophobic since the Fifties. It has suspended arms export licences while continuing to provide them to the repressive regimes of Qatar, Turkey and Egypt. It has sanctioned objectionable Israeli ministers while leaving far more chauvinistic regional figures untouched. The Tunisian president, for example, demands 'all the land of Palestine' for the Arabs. No two-state solution there. No British sanctions, either. It has presided over crackdowns on free speech and two-tier policing of the Gaza mobs. Just as sensible voters reach the end of their tether, however, Sir Keir throws sand in their eyes on Palestine Action. Now it is the turn of his Corbynite Left to feel the burn. But this is nothing more than an exercise in damage limitation; as always, the pendulum will swing back the other way, only – crucially – not as far as its original position. Thus public rage is subdued while the Overton Window creeps inexorably leftwards. You can feel it, can't you? You know you're being conned but you can't quite put your finger on it. As the months pass, a browbeaten and confused electorate finds the country drifting away beneath its feet, little by little becoming unrecognisable.