The Secretary of State for the Home Department, Yvette Cooper, has announced the decision to proscribe Palestine Action under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (TA 2000). This decision, subject to parliamentary approval, will make it illegal to be a member of or support the organisation. The decision follows a history of criminal damage and escalating aggressive actions by Palestine Action, including attacks on businesses, national infrastructure and defence firms. These actions have been assessed as meeting the statutory tests under the TA 2000, based on evidence from government, police and security services. Specific incidents, such as the attack on Brize Norton and other acts of serious property damage, are cited as examples of the group’s activities, which have caused significant financial damage and posed risks to public safety and national security. The group’s publication of ‘The Underground Manual’ and its online activities have facilitated the organisation of further criminal actions. The proscription is intended to disrupt the group’s escalating activities while ensuring that the right to peaceful protest for other groups remains unaffected.

On 24 October 2024, the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP, made a written statement to Parliament to give an update on manifesto commitments made to the Windrush generation. The key announcements included recruiting a new Windrush Commissioner and re-establishing the Windrush Unit, and are highlighted below.

The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament, announced that the government will replace the existing five-year grant of refugee leave with a 30-month temporary protection period under a new ‘core protection’ model, subject to regular review and an expectation of return when a person’s country of origin is deemed safe, and will extend the route to settlement to 20 years unless an individual qualifies to switch into alternative work or study visa routes, with the first changes to be made through amendments to the Immigration Rules ‘later this week’ and transitional arrangements preserving the current framework for those who applied ‘before today’ (2 March 2026).

The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP, has written a letter to the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), Professor Brian Bell,  commissioning a review of the information technology and telecommunications professionals and engineering professions in order to understand the reasons for their reliance on international recruitment and the potential future demand on these sectors. Full details of the commission are set out below.

The Home Secretary, Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, in a 2 July 2025 response letter to Professor Brian Bell, Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), acknowledges the MAC’s report which examined IT and engineering professionals and expresses gratitude for the MAC’s ongoing engagement in enhancing evidence-based policy through its participation in the Labour Market Evidence Group (LMEG). The letter goes on to commission two further reviews from the MAC: one on the salary requirements for various work visa routes, and the other on refining the Temporary Shortage List. More details of the commissions are set out below.

Asylum Aid reports that the Home Secretary has confirmed the government's intention to repeal the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 during the current Parliamentary session. This decision comes in response to Asylum Aid's legal challenge to the Rwanda plan. The Home Secretary has also committed to repealing the associated Policy Guidance once the Act is repealed. Consequently, Asylum Aid has withdrawn its claim, with a consent order sealed by the High Court on 13 January 2025. The Labour government had previously announced that no one would be sent to Rwanda, but the formal repeal of the Act is seen as crucial for upholding the rule of law and restoring the UK's international reputation. Asylum Aid hopes that the forthcoming Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will adhere to legal standards and ensure fair access to the UK asylum system.

The Home Secretary is to convene a summit of relevant ministers and law enforcement partners on Friday 6 September 2024 in relation to ongoing efforts to tackle smuggling gangs who are facilitating the small boat crossings in the English Channel. This follows the deaths of at least 12 people in the Channel this week. The Home Secretary will be joined at the National Crime Agency (NCA) headquarters in London by ministers including the Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Attorney General Lord Hermer, as well as representatives from the NCA, Border Force, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC). The announcement notes that the UKIC has been deploying extensive covert capability, while the NCA Director General Graeme Biggar is to 'highlight how close co-operation with the Bulgarian authorities and an established NCA presence in that critical transit country has led to more than 40 small boats and engines being intercepted in recent weeks'.

The Home Secretary has written to the European Affairs Committee Chair to update on the implementation of the new UK-France Treaty on irregular migration, which came into effect on 6 August 2025. The agreement, which runs until 11 June 2026, enables the UK to return individuals arriving in the UK illegally by small boat to France under a reciprocal arrangement. Section 20 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRGA 2010) requires signed treaties to be laid before both Houses of Parliament for a scrutiny period of 21 sitting days. However, in this instance, the government has opted to use CRGA 2010, s 22(1) to expedite ratification and proceed without the standard 21-day parliamentary scrutiny period, which would not have begun until after the summer recess, delaying implementation until October. The Home Secretary cites exceptional circumstances including the ongoing border security concerns, the risk to life associated with small boat crossings and the need to prevent criminal gangs from accelerating crossings ahead of implementation. The government will lay a written statement in Parliament in accordance with CRGA 2010, s 22(3)(c) immediately after recess.

Law360: Two police forces argued at the Court of Appeal on 22 May 2024 that injured officers should not be able to take their disability claims to the employment tribunals, claiming that benefits for injured police are not pensions and are therefore an employment matter.

The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has laid a statutory instrument which has the effect of suspending the bans on leave to remain and citizenship under the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (IMA 2023) for people who arrived in the UK after a certain date and met certain criteria.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, James Cleverly, has responded to the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) rapid review of the Immigration Salary List (ISL) and review of the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The government accepts the MAC’s recommended ISL in its entirety, except for the exclusion of two fishing occupations (Standard Occupation Classification 2020 codes 5119 and 9119). On 4 April 2024, the government will implement the changes to the contents of the list, along with abolishing the 20% going rate discount and increasing the Skilled Worker salary threshold to £38,700. However, it will not remove the salary threshold discount for the excluded fishing occupations, which will temporarily be included on the ISL from April 2024, pending further review by the MAC. The Home Office also accepts the MAC’s SOL recommendation that the references to shortage occupations should be removed from the Creative Worker route, however, a salary threshold will not be applied to this route. The Home Office issued a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC590) to give effect to these changes on 14 March 2024. The government also intends to commission the MAC to carry out a full review of the ISL, including a full, public call for evidence, in 2024.

The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has given a statement to Parliament on the direction of the new Labour government’s future policy on legal migration. In addition to confirming the government’s intention to focus on linking migration policy to skills and labour market policies (a ‘new approach’), through the cross-government approach set out in its pre-election manifesto and the new Skills England body announced in the King’s speech, the Home Secretary confirmed that the government would be proceeding with the majority of the ‘five-point plan’ measures introduced by the last government. This is because (in common with its predecessor) the government considers that net migration has risen too high in recent years, much of which has been driven by work migration. The statement also confirmed some other aspects, as set out below.