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Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Labour's work to devise official definition of 'Islamophobia' should be suspended IMMEDIATELY as it risks worsening grooming gangs scandal, report warns
Labour moves to draw up an official definition of Islamophobia would shut down efforts to combat grooming gangs, a new report warns. The Policy Exchange think-tank said the work of the Government's 'Anti-Muslim Hate/Islamophobia Definition Working Group', set up earlier this year, should be immediately suspended. Devising a government-backed definition of Islamophobia – even though it would not initially have any force in law – would 'almost certainly turbocharge cancel culture ', it said. Policy Exchange's warning came days after a long-awaited review by Whitehall troubleshooter Baroness Casey found public bodies covered up sickening evidence about Asian grooming gangs 'for fear of appearing racist '. Councils, police forces and the Home Office repeatedly 'shied away' from dealing with 'uncomfortable' questions about the ethnicity of rapists preying on thousands of vulnerable girls. In the wake of the Casey review, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised to 'root out' the grooming gang 'scourge'. But Policy Exchange's report warns: 'At the same time, ministers are pursuing a policy which will have the opposite effect. 'It would have made exposing the grooming scandal even harder and slower than it already was. It will make rooting out the scourge more difficult. It will give perpetrators a new place to hide.' Ministers said in March that the move to devise a definition would 'seek to provide the government and other relevant bodies with an understanding of unacceptable treatment and prejudice against Muslim communities'. It would not carry statutory power, at least initially, but there have been widespread concerns that it would lead to Islam being given protections beyond those afforded to other religions. The work is being led by former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve KC. Policy Exchange senior fellow and former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, said in a letter to Mr Grieve: 'Whatever form of words is chosen, and whatever legal status it has to start with, any definition will have serious consequences. 'It will almost certainly turbocharge 'cancel culture'. 'Even without the force of an official definition, claims of Islamophobia are already used to close down legitimate debate and deter investigation of alleged wrongdoing, as in Rotherham or Batley, with disastrous results all round, including for the wider Muslim community itself.' He added: 'Unless it literally restates the existing legal protections covering all faiths, any official Islamophobia definition will be an undeniable act of two-tier policy, creating special status and protection for members of one faith alone. 'It is unlikely to alleviate Islamist discontent – it will stoke it, creating new opportunities for grievance politics, challenge and attack in every institution and workplace.' Sir John said the working group 'may have begun its work with its conclusions pre-determined', adding that he had 'little confidence' it would approach key issues with an open mind. The report said the government's work should be put on hold until the end of a national inquiry on grooming gangs, which Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer belatedly ordered in the wake of the Casey review. Dr Paul Stott, head of security and extremism at Policy Exchange, said: ''A danger going forward is that the proposed 'Islamophobia' definition could shut down discussion on grooming gangs and if accepted by Government restrict debate on this and on other issues vital to our social cohesion.' He added: 'This week has demonstrated the need to move on from the view that concern about grooming gangs is in some way racist, Islamophobic, or a far-right issue. 'It is clearly not and it never was.'
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Passport Office urged to raise £95 renewal fee to plug black hole
Ministers have been urged to increase the £95 passport renewal fee in a blow for millions of Britons. The National Audit Office (NAO) said the Passport Office should increase its fees to address a growing black hole in the department's annual budget. The Passport Office had a budget shortfall of £223m last year and a total deficit of £916m over the last five years. The gap is currently covered through taxpayer funds but the NAO said fees should instead be increased to fill the black hole. Higher charges would hit millions of people who renew their passport each year. There were 6.97m passports issued to Britons last year. An adult passport is valid for 10 years while a children's passport is valid for five. The NAO, which scrutinises public spending, said the Passport Office, which is overseen by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, should raise the cost of services in a 'reasonable time'. It did not give a figure for how much fees should rise by. If it were to have filled its £223m black hole last year, it would have had to charge each applicant roughly £32 more based on the number of requests received. The NAO declined to comment on the estimate. Adults must currently pay £94.50 for a new passport, while a one-day renewal costs £222. The recommendation comes after it emerged that Brussels was considering making it more expensive for Britons to visit the EU. A €7 fee set to come into force could be raised to help the bloc cover its Covid debts, diplomatic sources have revealed. The cost of getting a passport has already risen significantly in recent year. In February 2023, the fee for an adult passport was raised for the first time in five years by 9pc, from £75.50 to £82.50. It rose again by 7pc in 2024 before an inflation-busting increase of 6.7pc in April. While high, Britain's fees are not unusual in Europe and the West. An adult passport costs €86 (£73) in France, €101 in Germany and $130 in the US. The NAO argued that the long gaps between renewing a passport meant it was fairer to charge the full cost of the service upfront, rather than running a deficit and asking central government to cover it. It said: 'Persistent deficits lead to large cumulative losses which are difficult to recover and risk creating high fees for service users in later years. 'This can create generational unfairness where services are used only periodically, such as adult passport renewals which happen every 10 years.' The call for even higher fees came in a report by the NAO into government services, including UK Visas and Immigration, the Court & Tribunals Service and the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency. Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, warned that some government services 'are not consistently recovering their costs – posing risks to the financial resilience of these services and fairness between users'. The NAO found a budget shortfall of £340m across all services it looked at, with the Passport Office accounting for the lion's share. The official audit watchdog said the department had made 'significant operational improvements' over the last few years but warned that it had not covered its costs since the 2017/18 financial year. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said: 'Cost recovery is an important mechanism to reduce the tax burden, but imbalances between fees and costs are creating risks for the resilience of public services, falling unfairly on the taxpayer to pay these differences.' 'Correct charging requires accurate data on costs and users, but the system is being hampered by a lack of monitoring and reporting from some departments, the time consuming legislative process to change fees and limited checks from HM Treasury. Better guidance and a more consistent approach on setting and amending fees and charges is also needed across government.' A Home Office spokesman said there were 'no current plans to increase passport fees.'
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Scots law ‘grey area' may let men avoid teen rape charges
Although the age of consent is 16, the peer said the law in England and Wales had created space where adult men groom and exploit children and then rely on this perceived consent to avoid the most serious charges. READ MORE: In response, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons that the UK Government would change the law to ensure adults who engage in penetrative sex with anyone under 16 face a mandatory charge of rape. MSPs have now called for a similar move in Scotland, where the law also makes a distinction between children under 13—where consent is not a defence—and those aged 13 to 15. The Tories said failing to do so could lead to Scotland "becoming a safe haven for child abusers". Although sexual activity with anyone under 16 is illegal under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, decisions about whether to prosecute, and what offence to charge, are left to the discretion of prosecutors. Baroness Louise Casey said too many men were seeing their charges downgradedFactors such as age difference, relationship history, and evidence of coercion or grooming are all taken into account. In 2023, 70-year-old William Melville was jailed for five years for having sex with a teenager behind an Aldi in Glasgow city centre. Because the girl was 13, he was charged with having sex with an 'older child'. In countries including France or Sweden, Melville would automatically have been charged with rape. Sharon Dowey, the Scottish Conservative shadow minister for victims and community safety, told The Herald: 'The Casey Review revealed some cases which will have deeply troubled the public and parents, given the age of those involved. 'They will be worried that the same grey area in the law could still exist up here where those who have sexually abused teenagers are not properly punished. 'If the rules down south are changed in light of these harrowing cases, then the law must be tightened up in Scotland as well to avoid any possibility of us becoming a safe haven for child abusers.' READ MORE: In her National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Baroness Casey said the "grey area" in the law was "largely aimed at avoiding criminalising someone who reasonably believed a child was older than they were or criminalising relationships between teenagers". However, she said this practice led to 'perverse outcomes'. 'We were told of one case involving a 15-year-old vulnerable child who had been sexually exploited by an older man who had used the 'boyfriend model' to groom her. 'Their relationship was well known to local services and the police who tried to disrupt it, but she was insistent she was in love with the older man and did not want to leave him or support a prosecution. 'Despite having substantial evidence that they were having sex, including images on both of their phones and hotel room bookings, the fact she was 'in love' with him, said she had consented and would not support the prosecution led to the case not making it to court." Baroness Casey said several years on, the girl—now an adult—realised she was a victim of child sexual exploitation, and had gone back to police to make allegations against the man. In 2021, France adopted legislation which characterised all sex with a child under the age of consent—15—as rape. Previously, prosecutors had been required to prove the act was non-consensual. The French Government introduced a 'Romeo and Juliet' clause allowing for sexual relations between a child and an individual up to five years older. Similarly, in Sweden, if a person has sex with someone under 15, it is legally defined as 'rape against a child' even if the child agreed at the time. In the Commons on Monday, Ms Cooper told MPs: 'We will change the law to ensure that adults who engage in penetrative sex with a child under 16 face the most serious charge of rape, and we will work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service and the police to ensure that there are safeguards for consensual teenage relationships.' A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scotland's independent public prosecution service, said: 'The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will, alongside our partners, pursue and prosecute those who sexually exploit children. We continuously review our approach to prosecuting sexual offenders. 'As an independent prosecution service, COPFS apply existing law in Scotland and would contribute to appropriate discussion of legislative reform. 'There is a wide range of criminal conduct which can be considered as sexual offending. 'Prosecutors are committed to listening to children and using their experience and understanding of child sexual exploitation to build strong cases which reflect the behaviour of offenders. We consistently and successfully prosecute those who commit child abuse.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Child sexual abuse and exploitation has a devastating impact, which is why we are taking action to ensure that children are protected from harm. We have also established a national multi-agency Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group, to consider all UK and Scottish work and make recommendations to Ministers accordingly. 'The independent Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is undertaking an extensive review of child protection policy and practice in Scotland and will report with recommendations for further development in due course. "In the meantime, it is crucial to focus efforts and resource on working with partners across the system to support embedding and implementation of the National Child Protection Guidance and providing a trauma-informed response to victims.'
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
How I uncovered the ringmasters at the heart of the migrant smuggling gangs
Last year, my colleague Rob Lawrie and I set out on a secret mission. I'm an investigative journalist, Rob's an ex-soldier, now an aid worker, and we have combined our talents in the past, working on immigration stories. Together, we had tracked and traced families, some with tiny children, across Europe and spent time in the French camps as they prepared to reach Britain. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, says it will take time to get investigators and new technology in place, but has pledged to 'go after the criminal gangs at the heart of this'. But the challenge the government faces is enormous, as we discovered when we set out to track down and expose the smugglers themselves. The people who organise the operations, commission the boats and promise entry to the UK via rubber dinghy. We had one target in mind: a man on the Interpol most wanted list who is known to have brought thousands of people across Europe into Britain. His name is Barzan Majeed, but he is known as 'The Scorpion'. Majeed is 38 and an Iraqi Kurd. He's also tough and fleet of foot. When an international police surveillance operation caught 25 members of his gang, he was tipped off and disappeared. When we started to look for him, there were few clues. Rob and I got going by asking questions of our contacts in the camps. People were scared and either told us they knew nothing, or warned us off. One man told us that the smugglers are armed and would do whatever was necessary to protect their trade: 'I'm not scared of anyone, but these guys, yeah, they will put a bullet in your back.' People smuggling using small, inflatable boats began in earnest in 2019 when the surveillance of lorries arriving in the UK was tightened. Back then, Rob and I met a little girl called Marianne who almost died when one of those first dinghies sank in the English Channel. There were 19 people on board the rubber boat and not one lifejacket. Benzine from the outboard engine had mixed with the seawater and become corrosive. Marianne and her mother showed us the livid scars from the burns they suffered. And young though she was, Marianne knew she almost didn't make it: 'I was scared, this was so scary. I was so cold it made me want to die.' The terrified child and dangerous dinghy were the first links in a chain that would eventually lead us through the ranks of a criminal gang to the man at the very top – The Scorpion. When police in the UK pick up migrants, they take and inspect their mobile phones. The Scorpion's number was found in thousands of them – he uses a picture of a scorpion when he sends out messages on WhatsApp. Martin Clarke, a senior investigating officer at the National Crime Agency, told us how significant that image was: 'Some of these crime gangs like to use an alias to gather kudos. We were seeing an avatar of a scorpion over and over and the more we looked, the more Majeed started to feature. You begin to realise that he's a very significant individual.' The officers at the NCA helped us by sharing some of what they knew about Majeed. They showed us his immigration record and we were astonished to learn that he had lived in the UK for almost a decade. He was smuggled in, in the back of a lorry, in 2006 aged 26. He used a false name and claimed to be an asylum seeker fleeing persecution in Iran. His records say he was refused leave to remain after a year, but no one made him leave, even though he was in and out of prison for handling firearms and taking and dealing drugs. British authorities only discovered his true nationality when he slipped up, using a prison phone to make a call to his mother – the number he had dialled was in Iraq. On the brink of being deported, The Scorpion agreed to voluntarily leave the UK and return to Iraq. This was in 2015 – just as millions of people, displaced by wars, were trying to make their way to Europe from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea. People smuggling was a huge international business and The Scorpion was in luck – his brother, Carzan, had been sent to prison in Belgium for people smuggling and passed over his business to his brother. Under Carzan, the trade had all been about lorry crossings but by 2019, The Scorpion saw the potential for small boats and for expanding his gang across Europe. We started our search for The Scorpion in Nottingham where he used to live. By using photos on an old Facebook page to trace the car wash where he worked when he first got to the UK in 2006 and which he later ended up buying. One migrant told us how he had been smuggled into Britain and was told to report to a small convenience store and given work, cash in hand, in a car wash. He helped us find the store and I went in, while Rob kept watch as I questioned the manager about claims that the business was picking up migrants from the beaches at Dover and putting them to work. He started messaging on his phone and within minutes four cars with blacked-out windows had pulled up outside. They started taking photos of us and we made a very hasty exit. We knew from other programmes we've made exposing people smuggling that when you question people profiting from it, word goes out. Criminals will get in touch out of curiosity, or to put their side of the story. Enemies also have an interest in bringing other smugglers down: you can get good information from rival gangs, settling old scores. The families of migrants who drown at sea also may be looking for justice and so share what they know. We saw how decent people trying to help migrants inadvertently help the smugglers, funnelling clients to them. After Nottingham, our trail took us to a respectable, middle-aged woman in an affluent Flemish village in Belgium who had turned her big house into a migrant hostel. It even has a secret room for people to hide from the authorities. We found evidence connecting some of the people staying with her to The Scorpion and a nearby lorry park he controls – the chain-link fencing has been removed to allow access to lorries bound for England. We heard from a wealthy Iranian who dealt personally with The Scorpion: he and his relatives were offered a new 'first-class' smuggling service – a premier cross-Channel ferry route costing them £18,000 each. They boarded the ferry in Calais, right under the noses of the authorities. We were so astonished that the man offered to draw us a map of the exit gate they were told to report to. This gate is only ever to be used by staff at the port. The Scorpion had told them they should come smartly dressed and stride with confidence. They'd then be picked up by a corrupt official who'd drive them onto the ferry, avoiding British passport controls. The man even brought them a full English breakfast on the ferry to celebrate their new life in Britain. Our breakthrough came by linking The Scorpion with migrant crossings from Turkey across the Mediterranean to mainland Europe. Rob's contact had sent us to a cafe in Istanbul used by the people smugglers. When we asked the manager if he could tell us about the trade – the room went quiet and a man passing our table opened his jacket to show us he was carrying a gun. Rob and I made yet another swift exit, but not before someone slipped us an Istanbul address for our man, Barzan Majeed. We were too late to find him there, but some men in a cafe opposite knew who he was. We left them our number and later that night, Rob's phone rang. He raced along the corridor in the hotel to bang on the door of my room – Majeed had telephoned us. He wanted to know what we were up to and why we were asking so many questions about him. We eventually tracked down a villa in Marmaris he was using. By asking around we were able to build up a picture of his life there: the smuggling boss high on cocaine sending yachts from Turkey to Italy. These yachts are stripped out so they can hold 100-plus migrants, bringing in thousands for each crossing. A girlfriend told us about the fast cars, the nights out and The Scorpion's love of money: 'He wanted to be a trillionaire. I warned him to stop, but he wanted more.' Then we got word that The Scorpion had been spotted in a money shop in Iraq. Following a violent man to a violent country made us nervous and we knew The Scorpion would be armed and that things could go badly if he felt cornered. But we couldn't give up. One of Rob's contacts offered to mediate and reassure The Scorpion that we hadn't been sent to take him back to face the 10-year jail sentence he had escaped. Telling him we were journalists just looking for information and he agreed to meet in a coffee shop. Within minutes of sitting down we saw Majeed walking towards us, shadowed by his security team who sat on the table behind. He looked like an affluent golfer, with a light blue shirt and black gilet. He looked at ease. We probed him about the loss of life, about the children rescued at sea, but his detachment was chilling. The people going on these boat crossings, he said, only had themselves to blame if things went wrong: 'God doesn't never say go inside the boats; they do that themselves', he said. 'They're begging the smugglers, please, please, do this for us. And then they complain. They say this, that. No, this is not true.' His stare was cold, he had no remorse and he made no effort to cover up his crimes saying he'd smuggled, 'maybe a thousand, maybe ten thousand. I don't know, I didn't count.' While insisting his people smuggling days were over, as he spoke, he was scrolling through his phone. He didn't realise it, but we could see his screen reflected in a polished picture frame on the wall behind. He was checking lists of passport numbers that are sent to corrupt officials to get visas for migrants. It helped explain his luxury lifestyle, the gated compound, top of the range cars and designer clothes. As news of our investigation broke, we were contacted by the deputy prime minister of the Kurdish government in Iraq, Qubad Talabani. He said he was disgusted to hear that a man as dangerous as Majeed was living a life of luxury in Iraq, making money from such misery. The speed of what happened next took us by surprise: that weekend an elite police group was positioned outside the address we had tracked The Scorpion to. A short time later he was behind bars, awaiting trial in Iraq. It would be comforting to think that Majeed was the only man at the top of an international people smuggling ring, and that his capture would warn others off, but it's far from the case. The National Crime Agency is currently overseeing 70 live investigations and this week joined forces with French authorities to secure the conviction of 18 people for people smuggling. The head of the NCA, Graeme Biggar, praised our investigation and the result achieved. In the wake of The Scorpion's arrest, European crime agencies have provided details of other smugglers thought to be hiding out in Iraq and there have been subsequent arrests, showing what can be achieved by this kind of international cooperation. It isn't easy but it can effectively target the smugglers and make them pay for the desperate tragedies we're witnessing in the English Channel.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- The Herald Scotland
Explainer: Why men are having teen rape charges 'downgraded'
In her 2025 audit of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, Casey noted that while the legal age of consent is 16, prosecutions involving this age group are often dropped or downgraded—especially when a victim is said to have consented or been 'in love' with an adult perpetrator. READ MORE: Scots legal 'grey area' may let men avoid teen rape charges 'Open to interpretation' 'Although any sexual activity with 13–15-year-olds is unlawful, the decision on whether to charge, and which offence to charge with, is left more open to interpretation,' said Baroness Casey. The peer argues this flexibility is well-intentioned—designed to avoid criminalising young people close in age or those who mistakenly believe someone is older—but warns it is being exploited by adult men who groom children. Her recommendation: make all penetrative sexual activity between adults and under-16s automatically rape, as is the case in countries like France. What the law says in Scotland Age of consent Under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, the age of consent is 16. Any sexual activity involving a child under 16 is a criminal offence, even when both parties are underage. Children under 13 The law is unequivocal: sexual activity involving a child under 13 is automatically treated as rape or sexual assault. Consent is not a defence. Scottish Government guidance requires that any such concerns be escalated via local child protection procedures. Children aged 13–15 Sexual activity in this age group is illegal, but prosecution is more discretionary. Decisions may consider age gaps, coercion, grooming, and vulnerability. Cases can be referred to the Procurator Fiscal, the Children's Reporter, or managed through safeguarding rather than the criminal courts. National guidance and crime recording National Guidance on Under-Age Sexual Activity (2010): Advises that not all underage sexual activity is abuse, but significant age gaps or power imbalances should trigger child protection responses. Mandatory reporting applies to under-13s. Scottish Crime Recording Standard: Requires prompt recording of sexual crime reports. Categorisation depends on available evidence, including victim statements and corroboration. Maximum penalties Under the 2009 Act, the maximum sentence for sexual activity with a child under 16 is 10 years. Rape and assault by penetration can result in life imprisonment. Home Secretary announces law change in England and Wales On Monday, Yvette Cooper told MPs she would legislate to tackle this great area: 'We will change the law to ensure that adults who engage in penetrative sex with a child under 16 face the most serious charge of rape, and we will work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service and the police to ensure that there are safeguards for consensual teenage relationships.' Shadow minister calls for reform in Scotland Scottish Conservative shadow minister for victims and community safety, Sharon Dowey, said there could be alarming consequences if the law changes in England but not in Scotland: 'The Casey Review revealed some cases which will have deeply troubled the public and parents, given the age of those involved. 'They will be worried that the same grey area in the law could still exist up here where those who have sexually abused teenagers are not properly punished. 'If the rules down south are changed in light of these harrowing cases, then the law must be tightened up in Scotland as well to avoid any possibility of us becoming a safe haven for child abusers.' Summary The legal grey area flagged by Baroness Casey lies in how sexual activity with children aged 13–15 is handled: illegal by statute, but often inconsistently prosecuted. In Scotland, while the law criminalises all under-16 sexual activity and removes the possibility of consent for under-13s, the approach for 13–15-year-olds is more discretionary, which could lead to some cases being dropped or downgraded.
