Warning over ‘flood’ of immigrants
Up to 250,000 Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants could flood into Britain within the first five years after access restrictions are lifted, campaigners warned today.
The figure – equal to the population of Newcastle – comes after the coalition Government refused to give an estimate of the numbers of people who might move to Britain after gaining the right to live and work in the UK from the end of December.
Migration Watch UK, which reached the estimate by assessing three different methods of predicting the likely inflow from Romania and Bulgaria, said immigration from the two countries could amount to 50,000 a year between 2014 and 2018.
Undercover officers case ruling due
THE High Court rules today on whether it is the appropriate forum for a damages action brought by 11 people who claim they were tricked into forming relationships with undercover police officers.
The group wants compensation for emotional trauma allegedly caused by officers infiltrating environmental activist groups.
All 10 women say they had a sexual relationship with a man who was later discovered to be a covert human intelligence source (CHIS), while a male claimant alleges a non-sexual relationship.
Audit reforms ‘risk to scrutiny’
GAPING holes in new laws planned to reform the way local authority spending is audited pose “serious risks” to scrutiny, MPs have warned.
The overhaul, which includes scrapping the Audit Commission, potentially undermines the integrity of the 150-year-old system of independent scrutiny over the way taxpayers’ cash is spent, a Commons committee added.
It raised “serious concerns” about how the planned reforms will work in practice and warned the proposals contain “a number of risks and gaps which require urgent attention”.
Many repeat offenders avoid jail
ALMOST two thirds of serious repeat offenders avoided a fresh prison sentence for newly committed crimes last year, a new report claims.
The Centre for Crime Prevention research, which the Ministry of Justice said was “highly selective”, said 91,032 criminals with at least ten previous convictions avoided being sent to prison in the 2011-2012 financial year, 64.9% of the 140,168 freshly found guilty of a crime.
The figure amounts to more than the current prison population of the UK of 83,825 and the report claims offenders received fines, community service or a fully suspended sentence for crimes including violence against the person, theft and sexual offences.
US grounds 787s over battery fires
MORE than half the Boeing 787s in use around the world have been grounded after an emergency landing by one of the jets revealed a battery fire risk in the aircraft.
Japan’s two biggest airlines and the US aviation agency took action after the incident yesterday.
The 787, known as the Dreamliner, is Boeing’s newest jet, and the company is counting heavily on its success.
