Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

Will welcome top talent, not low-skilled labour, says Priti Patel

AFTER delivering on the promise of getting “Brexit done”, the government’s next top agenda was implementing a points-based immigration system, said Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The new system “will turn off the tap of cheap, foreign low-skilled labour”, she added.


“On Friday (14), the new Cabinet backed mine and the Prime Minister’s vision to take back control of who comes to this country,” wrote Patel in the Sun on Sunday.

“From next year, all skilled workers will need to earn enough points to work in the UK.

They will need to speak English, have a firm job offer, and meet the salary requirements.”

She said Britain had “finally seized back our independence”, and it was time to implement “an immigration system that works in the interests of our country”.

“We agreed a radical, new, firm but fair system that rewards the skills people have to offer, not where they come from,” she stated.

Patel opined that firms had been relying on “cheap, foreign low-skilled labour” for “too long”.

She added that the UK had been “shackled by Europe and forced to be rule-takers”.

“Ending free movement changes all that,” she asserted.

The home secretary said migrant workers “will have to prove they have something to offer”.

She, however, clarified that the UK was “not closing our doors”, and will continue to “attract the top talent from anywhere in the world”—"the brightest and the best from around the globe”.

Under the new system, she explained, “extra points will be awarded to people who have the most to offer, including those working in a profession where there is a real skills shortage”.

Points will be issued “in line with pay scales” for people coming to work the NHS and schools, she added.

Stressing on the government’s promise to “unleash our country’s full potential”, Patel said the new system was “only the beginning”.

More For You

Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

Rishi Sunak. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

FORMER prime minister Rishi Sunak has returned to the banking world as senior adviser at Goldman Sachs group, with plans to donate his salary to the education charity he recently established with his wife Akshata Murty.

The US-headquartered multinational investment bank, where Sunak worked before entering politics, made the announcement on Tuesday (8) after the requisite 12-month period elapsed since the British Indian leader's ministerial term concluded following defeat in the general election on July 4 last year.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London.

Getty Images

Post Office scandal linked to 13 suicides, says inquiry

Highlights:

 
     
  • Public inquiry finds up to 13 suicides linked to wrongful Post Office prosecutions.
  •  
  • Horizon IT system faults led to false accusations, financial ruin, and imprisonment.
  •  
  • Sir Wyn Williams says Post Office maintained a “fiction” of accurate data despite known faults.

A PUBLIC inquiry has found that up to 13 people may have taken their own lives after being wrongly accused of financial misconduct by the Post Office, in what is now described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK ramps up drought response following driest spring

The EA has begun conducting more compliance checks on high-usage industries

Getty Images

UK ramps up drought response following driest spring since 1893

Key points

  • Spring 2025 was England’s driest and warmest in over 130 years
  • Reservoirs across England only 77% full, compared to 93% average
  • Environment Agency increases monitoring and drought planning
  • North-west England officially declared in drought

Water conservation measures stepped up ahead of summer

The UK government has increased efforts to manage water resources after confirming that England experienced its driest and warmest spring since 1893. The Environment Agency (EA) reported that reservoirs were on average only 77% full, significantly lower than the usual 93% for this time of year.

The announcement came after a National Drought Group meeting on Thursday, which reviewed the impact of continued dry weather on crops, canal navigation, and river flows. Poor grass growth and dry soil conditions were noted as threats to food production and livestock feed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Norman Tebbit

Following Thatcher’s third general election victory in 1987, Tebbit stepped back from frontline politics to care for his wife. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Former minister, Thatcher ally Norman Tebbit dies at 94

Norman Tebbit, a close ally of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and a former Conservative Party cabinet minister, has died at the age of 94. His son William confirmed the news on Tuesday.

"At 11:15 pm on 7th July, 2025, Lord Tebbit died peacefully at home aged 94," William Tebbit said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less
Southport

Floral tributes left by members of the public are seen following the fatal knife attack on three young girls in July in Southport.

Reuters

Public inquiry begins into Southport girls' murders

A PUBLIC inquiry begins on Tuesday into the murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Southport last year.

The inquiry will examine whether the attack could have been prevented and how future incidents might be avoided.

Keep ReadingShow less