Newslinks for Monday 4th August 2025 | Conservative Home

Asylum hotel protests continue, police on call – and claims of ‘cover-up’ of Afghan asylum seekers accused of raping 12-year-old girl

“A Sudanese asylum seeker, who was staying in a three-star government hotel, has been charged with attempting to kidnap 10-year-old girl in front of her father. Edris Abdelrazig, 30, was arrested in Stockport, Greater Manchester after allegedly trying to lure the child away on July 13. He had been living in a £100-a-night hotel which now houses migrants in Wilmslow, Cheshire, before the alleged incident. Abdelrazig appeared in court on July 15 where prosecutors said he had travelled two miles south of the hotel to Walnut Tree Playing Field in Stockport. It is claimed he then tried to abduct the girl, who was accompanied by her father, near the playing field before police came and arrested him. He was remanded in custody to appear at Manchester crown court on August 26. It comes after it was revealed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is giving serious consideration to the idea of introducing a digital ID system. The PM reportedly sees the proposal as necessary if Labour is to crack down on illegal immigration and make public service delivery more efficient, The Times reported.” – Daily Mail

• Police ‘cover-up’ of Afghan asylum seekers accused of raping girl – The Times
• ‘Increased police presence’ at asylum hotel protest – The Standard
• Violent unrest at pink-wearing mothers’ migrants protest continues: Demonstration turns ugly after masked men hijack proceedings, trying to rush gates at asylum seekers hotel before police crack down – Daily Mail
• Migrant shouts ‘f*** England’ at Express reporter in Calais: ‘Why on earth!’ – Daily Express
• The YouTubers telling migrants how to enter UK on charity visa – The Times
• Home Office to give £100m to support ‘one in, one out’ migrant scheme with France – The i

Comment:

• Starmer must find REAL ways to solve migrant crisis – not pathetic sticking plaster ‘solutions’ voters will see through – Henry Hill, The Sun
• We’re in a national security crisis unless we get grip of illegal migration – Nigel Farage, Daily Express
• The migrant hotel protests are different this time – Jack Hadfield, The Critic
• I went to a migrant hotel protest – one thing left me feeling completely hopeless – Adam Toms, Daily Express

> Yesterday: The country doesn’t just have an immigration problem – it has an emigration one

Reeves oversees a crushing economy

“Rachel Reeves should put VAT on private healthcare in this autumn’s Budget to raise billions for the NHS, Lord Neil Kinnock has said. The former Labour leader said that removing the VAT exemption on private healthcare would provide “vital funding” for public services and be “widely supported” by the public. If such a tax were structured to give private hospitals a carve-out for any work they do for the NHS, it would still raise more than £2bn, analysis suggests. Reeves is spending her summer contemplating what taxes she will have to raise in the Budget. The hikes are needed to fill a hole in the public finances caused by weaker economic growth and U-turns on welfare reform and cuts to the winter fuel payment. Her options have been limited by a promise in Labour’s general election manifesto not to “increase taxes on working people”, which the document defined as not increasing “National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rate of income tax, or VAT”. However, removing the VAT exemption, which applies to most private healthcare services, could provide Reeves with a loophole to get around the commitment. Labour could frame the policy as a move to make the wealthiest in society pick up the burden of additional taxation.” – The i

• Sky-high bond yields are crushing Reeves’s dreams of a building boom – Daily Telegraph
• Business chiefs are demanding Rachel Reeves offers tax incentives to help a million young people into workplace – The Sun
• Reeves horror as retirees pull billions out of pension pots over tax raid – Daily Express
• Chancellor creates ‘problem’ for UK with carried interest – The Times
• Revealed: The areas facing £500 council tax rises – Daily Telegraph
• Liz Truss accuses Kemi Badenoch of not telling the truth about Tory failures as former PM hits back at Conservative leader over her mini-budget criticism – Daily Mail

Comment:

• Andrew Bailey risks making Reeves’s Budget nightmare even worse – Adam Smith, Daily Telegraph
• The taxwoman cometh… with her sights set on London – Jonathan Prynn, The Standard
• Rachel Reeves is raking it in from taxes she didn’t even raise – Michael Mosbacher, Daily Telegraph

> Today: Mel Stride: If Labour carries on as it is, Britain will soon be drowning in debt

Palestine Action plot to overwhelm the police

“Thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters are planning to flout terror laws in a co-ordinated attempt to overwhelm the police, The Telegraph can reveal. Campaigners have hatched a plot for Left-wing activists and members of the Muslim community to attend a demonstration on Saturday declaring support for Palestine Action, the recently banned terror group. To do so would be an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. More than 200 people have been arrested for expressing support for the group since July 5. Last week, one of the co-founders of Palestine Action won the right to challenge the legality of the ban. Now, campaigners plan to confront the criminal justice system en masse to test whether the law can be enforced if thousands of protesters descend on London. The move would ramp-up pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, who is simultaneously battling a 25 year high backlog in the courts and a chronic shortage of prison spaces. Protests are planned for towns and cities across the UK, but the main event will take place in Westminster where thousands are being urged to attend and deliberately flout the terror legislation.” – Daily Telegraph

• Palestine Action supporters planning to ‘flood’ streets – The Times
• Pro-Palestine demonstrators ‘plan to flout terror laws en-masse’ to overwhelm the police during mass protest next weekend – Daily Mail
• Palestine Action supporters ‘plan to overwhelm the police’ with upcoming demonstration – LBC

Comment:

• Palestine activists must not be permitted to flout the will of Parliament – Telegraph View

News in brief:

• Will the Tories go extinct? – Richard Vinen, Unherd
• Kemi Badenoch should support real healthcare reform – Craig Drake, The Critic
• Why Vance is worth watching this summer – James Heale, The Spectator
• ​​Comparing Nigel Farage to Jimmy Savile marks a new low in politics – Eliot Wilson, CityAM