England's local election campaigning has been rocked by an "evil Islamist sectarianism" row after it emerged voters have been warned that "Allah sees everything" before casting their ballots.
Pro-Palestine activists have circulated videos directing locals on which county council candidates to support in Wycombe based on whether they would back a boycott of Israeli goods if elected on May 1.
Some 18 candidates out of 81 are given a "green tick" in the videos after backing "divestment from companies involved in human rights violations" in Israel's war against Hamas.
The names of the remaining 63 candidates appear in red text with a cross next to their names because they either said they were opposed to a boycott or did not give a response.
"It's clear who is supporting genocide and subservient to their masters", the footage says, and adds: "Think before you vote. Separate the clout seekers from humans who will make a difference. Don't sell your soul as Allah sees everything."
One video features the logo of the High Wycombe branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) - which said it had no knowledge of the video and was not involved in producing it.
But the reference to Allah has sparked concerns that voters may be being subjected to "undue spiritual interference", a criminal offence under electoral law.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told The Telegraph: "Conservatives will never succumb or kowtow to this evil Islamist sectarianism, which destroys lives all around the world.
"It is evil, make no mistake, and it stands against everything we believe in. Every day millions of people flee countries where this sort of politics is practised. It does not belong in Britain and threatens our democracy and our way of life."
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A spokesman for the High Wycombe branch of the PSC said: "This video was not produced by our branch, and we have no knowledge of who created it.
"It does contain some screenshots of legitimate questions that our High Wycombe branch has asked of all candidates standing in the upcoming local elections, along with their responses.
"We are campaigning for voters from all backgrounds and walks of life to take into consideration when voting their candidates' positions in relation to Israel's systematic violations of international law and the rights of the Palestinian people, and their willingness to take action to ensure the local council is not complicit in those violations through its investments."
The group's response comes as local election campaigning has been rocked by an "evil Islamist sectarianism" row after it emerged voters have been warned that "Allah sees everything" before casting their ballots.
Pro-Palestine activists have circulated videos directing locals on which county council candidates to support in Wycombe based on whether they would back a boycott of Israeli goods if elected on May 1.
Britain's defence firms have been handed a major lifeline after Emmanuel Macron dropped his demands for a post-Brexit military deal to be dependent on fishing rights.
With international talks on a peace deal with Ukraine still yet to reach a conclusion, the French President has been urged by other EU leaders to treat the issues separately - which comes just days after the bloc's own foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said France's stance on the matter was "surprising".
A deal could open the door for British firms to bid for contracts under the EU's €150billion-valued defence fund, a mega investment drive unveiled last month and aimed at enabling countries re-arm quicker.
And one Brussels source told the Mail: "Even Emmanuel Macron isn’t stupid enough to let fish get in the way."
It comes less than a week since reports emerged that a UK-France defence partnership to shore up support for Ukraine was being stalled over fishing rights.
Kallas admitted that the French were holding things up - she said: "I'm surprised how important the fish are given the security situation."
Kemi Badenoch has distanced herself from speculation that Robert Jenrick is tabling a fresh Conservative leadership bid after the Shadow Justice Secretary created a mass WhatsApp group of supporters this morning.
Jenrick had been looking to fundraise for Armed Forces charity SSAFA through running the London Marathon in 10 days' time - and had started a messaging group to drum up support.
But the one-time Tory leadership hopeful then added hundreds of people, including David Cameron, George Osborne, Tory frontbenchers and one of Nigel Farage's staffers, to a 500-member-strong WhatsApp group.
Now, Badenoch has batted away speculation over what Jenrick was up to.
"I think he's running a marathon," she told GB News. "I don't really understand yet what happened with the WhatsApp group, but it's not the first time that loads of journalists and politicians have been added to a WhatsApp group. Seems to be the trend these days."
Asked whether there was no threat from Jenrick to her leadership, Badenoch said: "I have a great team and I'm leading a team that is uniting the Conservative Party.
"What we're really focused on now is ensuring that people understand that voting Conservative at the local elections is the only credible option."
Kemi Badenoch has said that Labour is "too close" to China following a week of warnings over Beijing's involvement in Britain.
Speaking on the campaign trail in Cambridgeshire, the Tory leader laid into China's "dictatorship" regime, Chinese authorities' deportation of MP Wera Hobhouse from Hong Kong, the country's use of slave labour for solar panels - and Labour's long-running net zero drive.
"I worry that this current Government is too close to [China]," she said. "I think [Trade Minister] Douglas Alexander has been out there trying to get investment on green tech at a time when we're trying to get China out of steel, for example, and out of critical national infrastructure.
"So they need a proper plan and a proper strategy. Right now, they don't have one."
"We need to look again at the investments that Chinese companies are making," she added. "How many of them are actually really at the behest of the Chinese Government? How much are they getting involved in national infrastructure across the board?"
Less than a quarter of Britons believe Labour cares about ordinary people, damning new data has revealed.
Fresh figures from pollsters at YouGov have placed the number of people who think the party of Government cares about the man on the street at just 24 per cent - the lowest level on record.
At the same time, more than half of Britons think Labour only cares about a select few - 51 per cent, a fraction lower than a record high 52 in February this year.
And in a final hammer blow for Sir Keir Starmer's party, the share of Britons who think Labour cares for neither has shot up to 17 per cent - again, the highest level on record.
A UK-US trade deal could see Britain "cut off" by China and bearing the full force of Beijing's "economic coercion", the former deputy head of MI6 has warned.
Following the news that the US and Britain could sign some kind of deal in a matter of weeks, ex-spy chief Nigel Inkster has said the UK could land itself in hot water with China - with entire industries at risk of being targeted.
"If it were the case that we had such a deal, I think it would come with strings, and one of those strings would be an expectation that the UK would get with the programme when it came to China," Inkster told the BBC.
"We've seen a precursor of this with the Huawei 5G saga, which the Americans said, you cannot use a Chinese company to build the 5G.
"What needs to happen is that the Government needs to look much more carefully at what constitutes critical national infrastructure, and consider what the risks are in any given sector.
"And one of the areas here that worries me quite a lot is the whole pharmaceutical sector, because China is a critical supplier of many pharmaceutical products. Without them, we would be in trouble."
Asked whether the Chinese Government could switch off the supply of vital pharmaceuticals in the event of a future dispute, Inkster added: "It would be an incredibly powerful lever. China has, I think, a fairly clear track record of readiness to use economic coercion."
GB News has sifted through an official US trade document which exposes Keir Starmer's high-stakes gamble as he looks to secure a US trade deal.
British negotiators are closing in on an agreement to adopt the EU's food and veterinary standards, which could be finalised as early as next month.
The proposal, which would involve the UK adopting what is known as "dynamic alignment" with Brussels, has long been championed as a solution to the ongoing trade frictions - particularly concerning the Northern Ireland Protocol.
However, it would also bring some UK food regulation under the oversight of the European Court of Justice - a non-negotiable for Brexiteers.
Dynamic alignment could also shut out American agricultural products - said to be a key clause in any UK-US trade deal, which US Vice President JD Vance has suggested is on the table.
As a result, Starmer's critics now say he's at risk of sabotaging a deal which has been doggedly pursued since Britain left the clutches of the EU...
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Vladimir Putin's predecessor Dmitry Medvedev has labelled David Lammy's trip to Paris for "coalition of the willing" talks a meeting of a "fascist clique" in a fresh outspoken outburst.
Medvedev, who was President of Russia from 2008 to 2012 - while Putin was Prime Minister - and PM himself from 2012 to 2020, blasted on social media: "Apparently, the top of Ukraine's fascist clique have come to Paris for talks with the UK, Germany and France on how many European coffins they will be ready to accept after the deployment of the troops of the 'coalition of the willing' in Ukraine."
Just days prior, Medvedev hailed Donald Trump's minerals deal plan as "excellent" - but called Volodymyr Zelensky "the Kiev freak".
He fumed: "The Americans rolled out an excellent draft commodity deal to the Kiev freak. If the Kiev regime approves it, the drug addict and co. will then be hanged on the Maidan, like Mussolini. And if it rejects it, the United States will reset the Bandera regime. Checkmate."
Wes Streeting has vowed not to ditch his Ilford North seat at the next election - despite a damning series of polling blows against his pro-Gaza independent challengers.
The Health Secretary won his constituency with a wafer-thin 528-vote majority over independent Leanne Mohamad - who has since surged to a polling lead over Streeting.
In November, Mohamad filed a complaint "regarding the count on the night of the General Election" to the Electoral Commission - the outcome of which is yet to be made public.
Meanwhile in next-door seat Ilford South, the pro-Palestine Ilford Independents turfed out Labour in a near-50 per cent swing in a recent council by-election.
But Streeting, asked by The Spectator whether he would switch to a safer seat, vowed: "Definitely not. Ilford North is my home. And I don't believe in cutting and running, I'm in it to win it.
"I won against the odds in 2015, I won despite the pressures in 2024 and I plan to go into the next election in Ilford North with a track record of turning around the NHS, making a real change for my constituency and changing people's lives and I'll be standing on my record at the next election."
Foreign Secretary David Lammy will be in Paris today for a crunch four-way meeting with his American, French and German counterparts.
With progress on a Ukrainian peace deal sluggish, Lammy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Fench Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and German equivalent Annalena Baerbock will be locked in crunch "Quad" talks on how to get things moving again.
The European trio at the table have all pushed for progress on the "coalition of the willing" - but are expected to press for American answers on what Donald Trump's peace plan with Russia could look like.
Trump's Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Lammy and French President Emmanuel Macron today too - with the Anglo-French duo expected to be sniffing out answers on how Witkoff's talks with Putin in Russia went.
Labour's looming workers' rights Bill is a "recipe for conflict" and will lead to more strikes, Britain's biggest business groups have warned.
In a joint letter to members of the House of Lords today, business groups from across the country will warn that new laws making it easier for unions to call walkouts at short notice are "a recipe for conflict not for cooperation".
The Bill, if enshrined in law un-amended, will weaken the threshold currently required to trigger a strike, such as requiring at least half of a union's members to participate in a vote before calling industrial action.
Unions could also make pay demands at firms where just two per cent of staff are members - down from the current 10 per cent.
It comes as Britain faces down further strikes after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner failed to reach a deal with unions and bin workers in Birmingham on Wednesday.
The letter to peers, signed by the "B5" club of business groups, says: "Many businesses work well with their trade unions, but some are faced with unions behaving unreasonably.
"By empowering trade unions rather than empowering whichever party is behaving reasonably, this legislation will guarantee continued conflict and prevent the reset in industrial relations that is needed."
The B5 comprises the British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, Federation of Small Businesses, Institute of Directors and Make UK - and together represents the majority of British businesses.
A Government spokesman said the measures "have strong support amongst business and the public" - and businesses have been "consulted extensively".
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to can Britain's multi-billion-pound migrant hotel contract spending in a bid to stop the foreign aid budget being spent on the asylum system.
A letter signed by more than 100 international NGOs and pro-refugee charities has labelled the asylum set-up as "not fit for purpose" and "poor value for money" - but the groups have urged the Prime Minister to put migrants up in social housing instead.
Asylum seekers should be dropped into communities through "dispersal accommodation" like large houses, bedsits and flats across different local authorities, the letter recommends.
Such a move would allegedly be cheaper and help with integration - and the Home Office has the opportunity to terminate the contracts from January next year.
The letter, seen by The Times, vows that "community housing not only provides better value for money but also ensures higher-quality living conditions and better integration into society".
"The 2026 break clauses in the accommodation contracts must be utilised to achieve this," it adds.
Just days ago, it emerged that a key UK-France defence partnership to shore up support for Ukraine was being stalled over fishing rights.
French and British military chiefs had been thrashing out plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine if a potential peace deal with Russia comes to pass - but once again, France demanded access to UK waters.
That left EU foreign affairs boss Kaja Kallas "surprised" - but alongside France, Sweden's EU affairs minister Jessica Rosencrantz warned of how fisheries could obstruct a crucial defence pact two weeks prior.
"Just to be clear, I think it's really important that the EU and UK work together on defense and security," Rosencrantz told Politico.
"Obviously, there are other sensitive issues as well for many member states which also need to be resolved - fisheries being one."
READ THE FULL STORY ON THE EU'S FISHING DEMANDS HERE
As Emmanuel Macron steps aside for a UK deal in Europe, White House officials believe a trade deal with Britain can be finalised within three weeks.
An insider familiar with US strategy told The Telegraph that the UK was in a good position for a rapid deal - but will likely have to wait for a "second wave" of announcements, following Japan, India, and South Korea
The White House source said that an agreement was expected "soon" - and clarified: "Two weeks or maybe three."
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Find Out More...
Pro-Palestine activists have circulated videos directing locals on which county council candidates to support in Wycombe based on whether they would back a boycott of Israeli goods if elected on May 1.
Some 18 candidates out of 81 are given a "green tick" in the videos after backing "divestment from companies involved in human rights violations" in Israel's war against Hamas.
The names of the remaining 63 candidates appear in red text with a cross next to their names because they either said they were opposed to a boycott or did not give a response.
"It's clear who is supporting genocide and subservient to their masters", the footage says, and adds: "Think before you vote. Separate the clout seekers from humans who will make a difference. Don't sell your soul as Allah sees everything."
One video features the logo of the High Wycombe branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) - which said it had no knowledge of the video and was not involved in producing it.
But the reference to Allah has sparked concerns that voters may be being subjected to "undue spiritual interference", a criminal offence under electoral law.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told The Telegraph: "Conservatives will never succumb or kowtow to this evil Islamist sectarianism, which destroys lives all around the world.
"It is evil, make no mistake, and it stands against everything we believe in. Every day millions of people flee countries where this sort of politics is practised. It does not belong in Britain and threatens our democracy and our way of life."
FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY…
READ IN FULL: Palestine Solidarity Campaign responds to 'Allah sees everything' row
A spokesman for the High Wycombe branch of the PSC said: "This video was not produced by our branch, and we have no knowledge of who created it.
"It does contain some screenshots of legitimate questions that our High Wycombe branch has asked of all candidates standing in the upcoming local elections, along with their responses.
"We are campaigning for voters from all backgrounds and walks of life to take into consideration when voting their candidates' positions in relation to Israel's systematic violations of international law and the rights of the Palestinian people, and their willingness to take action to ensure the local council is not complicit in those violations through its investments."
The group's response comes as local election campaigning has been rocked by an "evil Islamist sectarianism" row after it emerged voters have been warned that "Allah sees everything" before casting their ballots.
Pro-Palestine activists have circulated videos directing locals on which county council candidates to support in Wycombe based on whether they would back a boycott of Israeli goods if elected on May 1.
RECAP: Emmanuel Macron BACKS DOWN in stand-off with Britain as France drops Brexit demands
Britain's defence firms have been handed a major lifeline after Emmanuel Macron dropped his demands for a post-Brexit military deal to be dependent on fishing rights.
With international talks on a peace deal with Ukraine still yet to reach a conclusion, the French President has been urged by other EU leaders to treat the issues separately - which comes just days after the bloc's own foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said France's stance on the matter was "surprising".
A deal could open the door for British firms to bid for contracts under the EU's €150billion-valued defence fund, a mega investment drive unveiled last month and aimed at enabling countries re-arm quicker.
And one Brussels source told the Mail: "Even Emmanuel Macron isn’t stupid enough to let fish get in the way."
It comes less than a week since reports emerged that a UK-France defence partnership to shore up support for Ukraine was being stalled over fishing rights.
Kallas admitted that the French were holding things up - she said: "I'm surprised how important the fish are given the security situation."
Kemi Badenoch casts off Robert Jenrick leadership bid speculation after Shadow Justice Secretary's WhatsApp gaffe
Kemi Badenoch has distanced herself from speculation that Robert Jenrick is tabling a fresh Conservative leadership bid after the Shadow Justice Secretary created a mass WhatsApp group of supporters this morning.
Jenrick had been looking to fundraise for Armed Forces charity SSAFA through running the London Marathon in 10 days' time - and had started a messaging group to drum up support.
But the one-time Tory leadership hopeful then added hundreds of people, including David Cameron, George Osborne, Tory frontbenchers and one of Nigel Farage's staffers, to a 500-member-strong WhatsApp group.
Now, Badenoch has batted away speculation over what Jenrick was up to.
"I think he's running a marathon," she told GB News. "I don't really understand yet what happened with the WhatsApp group, but it's not the first time that loads of journalists and politicians have been added to a WhatsApp group. Seems to be the trend these days."
Asked whether there was no threat from Jenrick to her leadership, Badenoch said: "I have a great team and I'm leading a team that is uniting the Conservative Party.
"What we're really focused on now is ensuring that people understand that voting Conservative at the local elections is the only credible option."
Kemi Badenoch issues urgent warning over Labour's China links after British Steel fiasco
Kemi Badenoch has said that Labour is "too close" to China following a week of warnings over Beijing's involvement in Britain.
Speaking on the campaign trail in Cambridgeshire, the Tory leader laid into China's "dictatorship" regime, Chinese authorities' deportation of MP Wera Hobhouse from Hong Kong, the country's use of slave labour for solar panels - and Labour's long-running net zero drive.
"I worry that this current Government is too close to [China]," she said. "I think [Trade Minister] Douglas Alexander has been out there trying to get investment on green tech at a time when we're trying to get China out of steel, for example, and out of critical national infrastructure.
"So they need a proper plan and a proper strategy. Right now, they don't have one."
"We need to look again at the investments that Chinese companies are making," she added. "How many of them are actually really at the behest of the Chinese Government? How much are they getting involved in national infrastructure across the board?"
Damning poll reveals less than 1 in 4 Britons think Labour 'cares about ordinary people'
Less than a quarter of Britons believe Labour cares about ordinary people, damning new data has revealed.
Fresh figures from pollsters at YouGov have placed the number of people who think the party of Government cares about the man on the street at just 24 per cent - the lowest level on record.
At the same time, more than half of Britons think Labour only cares about a select few - 51 per cent, a fraction lower than a record high 52 in February this year.
And in a final hammer blow for Sir Keir Starmer's party, the share of Britons who think Labour cares for neither has shot up to 17 per cent - again, the highest level on record.
'We'd be in trouble!' UK-US trade deal could see Britain CUT OFF by China, ex-MI6 boss warns
A UK-US trade deal could see Britain "cut off" by China and bearing the full force of Beijing's "economic coercion", the former deputy head of MI6 has warned.
Following the news that the US and Britain could sign some kind of deal in a matter of weeks, ex-spy chief Nigel Inkster has said the UK could land itself in hot water with China - with entire industries at risk of being targeted.
"If it were the case that we had such a deal, I think it would come with strings, and one of those strings would be an expectation that the UK would get with the programme when it came to China," Inkster told the BBC.
"We've seen a precursor of this with the Huawei 5G saga, which the Americans said, you cannot use a Chinese company to build the 5G.
"What needs to happen is that the Government needs to look much more carefully at what constitutes critical national infrastructure, and consider what the risks are in any given sector.
"And one of the areas here that worries me quite a lot is the whole pharmaceutical sector, because China is a critical supplier of many pharmaceutical products. Without them, we would be in trouble."
Asked whether the Chinese Government could switch off the supply of vital pharmaceuticals in the event of a future dispute, Inkster added: "It would be an incredibly powerful lever. China has, I think, a fairly clear track record of readiness to use economic coercion."
EXPOSED: America's 34-page hit job on 'burdensome' EU has Starmer on brink of torching US trade deal
GB News has sifted through an official US trade document which exposes Keir Starmer's high-stakes gamble as he looks to secure a US trade deal.
British negotiators are closing in on an agreement to adopt the EU's food and veterinary standards, which could be finalised as early as next month.
The proposal, which would involve the UK adopting what is known as "dynamic alignment" with Brussels, has long been championed as a solution to the ongoing trade frictions - particularly concerning the Northern Ireland Protocol.
However, it would also bring some UK food regulation under the oversight of the European Court of Justice - a non-negotiable for Brexiteers.
Dynamic alignment could also shut out American agricultural products - said to be a key clause in any UK-US trade deal, which US Vice President JD Vance has suggested is on the table.
As a result, Starmer's critics now say he's at risk of sabotaging a deal which has been doggedly pursued since Britain left the clutches of the EU...
SIGN UP TO GBN MEMBERSHIP AND READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Putin's predecessor rages at Lammy's Paris talks in latest bizarre rant - 'fascist clique!'
Vladimir Putin's predecessor Dmitry Medvedev has labelled David Lammy's trip to Paris for "coalition of the willing" talks a meeting of a "fascist clique" in a fresh outspoken outburst.
Medvedev, who was President of Russia from 2008 to 2012 - while Putin was Prime Minister - and PM himself from 2012 to 2020, blasted on social media: "Apparently, the top of Ukraine's fascist clique have come to Paris for talks with the UK, Germany and France on how many European coffins they will be ready to accept after the deployment of the troops of the 'coalition of the willing' in Ukraine."
Just days prior, Medvedev hailed Donald Trump's minerals deal plan as "excellent" - but called Volodymyr Zelensky "the Kiev freak".
He fumed: "The Americans rolled out an excellent draft commodity deal to the Kiev freak. If the Kiev regime approves it, the drug addict and co. will then be hanged on the Maidan, like Mussolini. And if it rejects it, the United States will reset the Bandera regime. Checkmate."
Wes Streeting vows he WON'T leave seat - despite damning polling against pro-Gaza independent
Wes Streeting has vowed not to ditch his Ilford North seat at the next election - despite a damning series of polling blows against his pro-Gaza independent challengers.
The Health Secretary won his constituency with a wafer-thin 528-vote majority over independent Leanne Mohamad - who has since surged to a polling lead over Streeting.
In November, Mohamad filed a complaint "regarding the count on the night of the General Election" to the Electoral Commission - the outcome of which is yet to be made public.
Meanwhile in next-door seat Ilford South, the pro-Palestine Ilford Independents turfed out Labour in a near-50 per cent swing in a recent council by-election.
But Streeting, asked by The Spectator whether he would switch to a safer seat, vowed: "Definitely not. Ilford North is my home. And I don't believe in cutting and running, I'm in it to win it.
"I won against the odds in 2015, I won despite the pressures in 2024 and I plan to go into the next election in Ilford North with a track record of turning around the NHS, making a real change for my constituency and changing people's lives and I'll be standing on my record at the next election."
Lammy heads to Paris for crunch 'Quad' meeting with US, France, Germany
Foreign Secretary David Lammy will be in Paris today for a crunch four-way meeting with his American, French and German counterparts.
With progress on a Ukrainian peace deal sluggish, Lammy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Fench Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and German equivalent Annalena Baerbock will be locked in crunch "Quad" talks on how to get things moving again.
The European trio at the table have all pushed for progress on the "coalition of the willing" - but are expected to press for American answers on what Donald Trump's peace plan with Russia could look like.
Trump's Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Lammy and French President Emmanuel Macron today too - with the Anglo-French duo expected to be sniffing out answers on how Witkoff's talks with Putin in Russia went.
'It's a recipe for conflict!' Labour's workers' rights Bill will cause MORE strikes, businesses warn
Labour's looming workers' rights Bill is a "recipe for conflict" and will lead to more strikes, Britain's biggest business groups have warned.
In a joint letter to members of the House of Lords today, business groups from across the country will warn that new laws making it easier for unions to call walkouts at short notice are "a recipe for conflict not for cooperation".
The Bill, if enshrined in law un-amended, will weaken the threshold currently required to trigger a strike, such as requiring at least half of a union's members to participate in a vote before calling industrial action.
Unions could also make pay demands at firms where just two per cent of staff are members - down from the current 10 per cent.
It comes as Britain faces down further strikes after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner failed to reach a deal with unions and bin workers in Birmingham on Wednesday.
The letter to peers, signed by the "B5" club of business groups, says: "Many businesses work well with their trade unions, but some are faced with unions behaving unreasonably.
"By empowering trade unions rather than empowering whichever party is behaving reasonably, this legislation will guarantee continued conflict and prevent the reset in industrial relations that is needed."
The B5 comprises the British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, Federation of Small Businesses, Institute of Directors and Make UK - and together represents the majority of British businesses.
A Government spokesman said the measures "have strong support amongst business and the public" - and businesses have been "consulted extensively".
Starmer told to axe migrant hotels in bid to save billions - and place asylum seekers in SOCIAL HOUSING instead
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to can Britain's multi-billion-pound migrant hotel contract spending in a bid to stop the foreign aid budget being spent on the asylum system.
A letter signed by more than 100 international NGOs and pro-refugee charities has labelled the asylum set-up as "not fit for purpose" and "poor value for money" - but the groups have urged the Prime Minister to put migrants up in social housing instead.
Asylum seekers should be dropped into communities through "dispersal accommodation" like large houses, bedsits and flats across different local authorities, the letter recommends.
Such a move would allegedly be cheaper and help with integration - and the Home Office has the opportunity to terminate the contracts from January next year.
The letter, seen by The Times, vows that "community housing not only provides better value for money but also ensures higher-quality living conditions and better integration into society".
"The 2026 break clauses in the accommodation contracts must be utilised to achieve this," it adds.
RECAP: Emmanuel Macron BLOCKING crucial UK peace plans over Brexit row as France makes demands
Just days ago, it emerged that a key UK-France defence partnership to shore up support for Ukraine was being stalled over fishing rights.
French and British military chiefs had been thrashing out plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine if a potential peace deal with Russia comes to pass - but once again, France demanded access to UK waters.
That left EU foreign affairs boss Kaja Kallas "surprised" - but alongside France, Sweden's EU affairs minister Jessica Rosencrantz warned of how fisheries could obstruct a crucial defence pact two weeks prior.
"Just to be clear, I think it's really important that the EU and UK work together on defense and security," Rosencrantz told Politico.
"Obviously, there are other sensitive issues as well for many member states which also need to be resolved - fisheries being one."
READ THE FULL STORY ON THE EU'S FISHING DEMANDS HERE
Our top story: Trump officials pinpoint moment Britons can expect US trade deal in boost for Brexit Britain
As Emmanuel Macron steps aside for a UK deal in Europe, White House officials believe a trade deal with Britain can be finalised within three weeks.
An insider familiar with US strategy told The Telegraph that the UK was in a good position for a rapid deal - but will likely have to wait for a "second wave" of announcements, following Japan, India, and South Korea
The White House source said that an agreement was expected "soon" - and clarified: "Two weeks or maybe three."
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Find Out More...