Channel patrol: Priti Patel’s harsh regime is ‘answer to a crisis that doesn’t exist’ Mark Townsend © Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
Blue skies appeared above Dover, and for the crew of the Valiant, moored off the harbour wall, it was a signal to start readying for action. Fine weather meant more migrants would soon be heading towards them. For those on board the Border Force cutter, it was a familiar routine. Already this year it has brought ashore hundreds of asylum seekers, another 65 last Sunday alone.
So far, 6,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats during the first six months of the year. The figure for the whole of 2020 was 8,417, a total expected to be eclipsed during the next two months as clement weather makes the treacherous crossing more tempting.
Migrants who steer dinghies across English Channel to claim asylum will no longer be prosecuted
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Home truths: how top officials are working to implement the recommendations of the Windrush review
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Britain s biggest care home operator has hiked fees for residents in the pandemic while funnelling cash to its super-rich owners, experts have claimed.
Private equity-owned HC-One has been accused of using loans and a complex web of offshore structures to ‘extract cash’ and reduce its tax bill.
Newly published accounts reveal the company, which has 8,000 residents in 170 care homes, increased fees to residents and councils by an inflation-busting 3.6 per cent.
Raising fees: HC-One, founded by Labour donor Chai Patel (pictured) has been accused of using loans and a complex web of offshore structures to extract cash and reduce its tax bill
Care home giant HC-One hikes fees for residents while owners cash in
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