Home Office to give some migrants 'special treatment' in new 10-year rule - Britain

Some immigrants may get “special treatment” and be exempt from a crackdown that will make it harder to settle in the UK, the Home Secretary has suggested.

Shabana Mahmood highlighted the prospect of “transitional arrangements” for certain groups of people, suggesting the likes of spouses and older people could be among those shielded from her plans to double the default qualifying time for permanent residency in the UK.

Mahmood’s proposals to make most immigrants wait at least 10, rather than five, years for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and to apply it retrospectively to people already in the UK have triggered a major backlash, including from many Labour MPs.

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Health

£30 cancer blood test ‘could reduce invasive examinations for women’

Caption: Sophie Morris gets a Blood test , performed by Pauline – Tia Macdondo at the ‘Get A Drip’ Clinic in London’s Kings Road. 23/1/24. Photo Tom Pilston
Photographer: Tom Pilston
Copyright: Tom Pilston , tompilston.com , tompilston@gmail.com 0044 7802 672 609

A cancer blood test could help reduce the number of women undergoing invasive examinations for potential gynaecological cancer, researchers have said.

It could be used to save thousands of women from the “unpleasant” process.

How the £30 blood test works

EMBARGOED TO 0001 TUESDAY AUGUST 26 File photo dated 5/6/2020 of a woman having blood drawn for a blood test. A simple blood test could accurately detect ovarian cancer in its early stages and has the potential to (Photo: Simon Dawson/PA).

The PinPoint test uses AI to analyse 30 markers in the blood to predict whether or not a woman has a low, elevated or high risk of cancer.

Around 90,000 women are referred each year for postmenopausal bleeding – but only around one in 10 of them will have cancer.

A young woman uses blood test kit at home The UK has seen an explosion of at home testing in recent years (Photo: Getty)

The £30 test could save thousands of women from “unpleasant” diagnostic procedures.

Benefits of the test

It just gives more information to work with in the existing clinical process.

If someone is higher risk, they can go on for further tests. Dr Richard Savage, PinPoint chief scientist, said: “If you’re high risk, of course, you want to know about that immediately, and you can act.”

Female doctor talking with young woman in exam room – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)

When will it be rolled out?

PinPoint researchers say they are “quite a long way down that road” in getting the test rolled out for widespread use.

The test was assessed in five NHS trusts in Yorkshire on 2,953 women with suspected gynaecological cancer. Overall, 2,839 women did not have cancer and 114 were diagnosed with cancer.

Jane Joy and Sandi White were both diagnosed in their early fifties and were told they were too young to have it (Photo: Jeff Moore/PA)

NEWS

3 min read

HEALTH

The ‘potentially lethal’ baby products being sold online

Caption: EMBARGOED TO 0001 WEDNESDAY JULY 8

Undated handout image issued by Which? of one of 150 potentially lethal baby products which was being sold on some of the most popular online marketplaces. Which? said it had found 150 potentially lethal baby products being sold to UK consumers, including self-feeding props that risked choking and sleep pillows that risked suffocation. Which? researchers found the items on Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, OnBuy, TikTok Shop and Wish. Issue date: Wednesday July 8, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Which?/PA Wire

NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Which?
Provider: Which?/PA Wire
Source: PA

“Potentially lethal” baby pillows, sleeping bags and self-feeding items have been sold widely on Britain’s online marketplaces, a top consumer watchdog has warned.

The dangerous items

Which? found 150 dangerous baby products online – including self-feeding props that risked choking and sleep pillows that risked suffocation.

Items were found on Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, OnBuy, TikTok Shop and Wish. All the marketplaces said they had removed the flagged items, except for Wish, which did not respond.

Caption: EMBARGOED TO 0001 WEDNESDAY JULY 8

Caption: Undated handout image issued by Which? of one of 150 potentially lethal baby products which was being sold on some of the most popular online marketplaces. Which? said it had found 150 potentially lethal baby products being sold to UK consumers, including self-feeding props that risked choking and sleep pillows that risked suffocation. Which? researchers found the items on Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, OnBuy, TikTok Shop and Wish. Issue date: Wednesday July 8, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Which?/PA Wire

Risk of choking alert

Which? focused on self-feeding products, pillows and sleeping bags because they had alerts or safety notices by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS).

According to the OPSS alert, self-feeding products create a risk of serious harm or death from choking on the feed or aspiration pneumonia.

LIFESTYLE

3 min read

Retailers remove products

The lives of babies are at risk

Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which?, said it had been too “easy” to find unsafe products online.

Amazon, Alibaba, AliExpress, Ebay, Etsy, OnBuy and TikTok Shop all said they had removed the products flagged by Which?. Amazon also encouraged people to contact customer service if they have any concerns about products purchased.

Caption: EMBARGOED TO 0001 WEDNESDAY JULY 8

Farage triggers Clacton by-election – what happens next?

Reform UK’s attempt to stage a “people versus the establishment” contest risks falling flat, with all the other major parties vowing to boycott the vote.

Caption: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage eats a 99 Flake ice cream while walking in Clacton-on-Sea, eastern England, on July 4, 2024 as Britain holds a general election. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP) (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: HENRY NICHOLLS
Provider: AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP
Copyright: AFP or licensors

Why has Farage called a by-election?

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 7: Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage announces his resignation as a member of parliament while giving a statement on his In his speech earlier today, he was keen to stress his victimhood (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Farage quits

The Reform UK leader quit in order to re-stand as Clacton MP, as he faces an investigation over his finances.

By-election boycott

Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems, the Greens and Restore have all said they will not stand.

Caption: Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch after making a speech during a rally at Glaziers Hall in London Bridge, central London. Picture date: Tuesday July 7, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
Photographer: Gareth Fuller
Provider: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
Source: PA

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts a roundtable with the hospitality industry at 10 Downing Street in central London on June 29, 2026. (Photo by Alberto Pezzali / POOL / AFP via Getty Images) Sir Keir Starmer during a roundtable with the hospitality industry at 10 Downing Street in central London (Photo: Alberto Pezzali/AFP)

‘Desperate stunt’?

Farage says he wants a “people versus the establishment” contest. But Sir Keir Starmer called it a “desperate stunt”.

What happens to the investigation?

Farage still faces a parliamentary probe

Farage is being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over a £5m gift from crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne.

The commissioner’s investigation is suspended after Farage’s resignation – but will resume if he wins.

If he is found to have breached the rules and is suspended for over 10 days, it could trigger a recall petition – and potentially another by-election.

Farage vs Binface

Caption: WIGAN, ENGLAND – JUNE 19: Count Binface of the Count Binface Party speaks to the media at the By-election declaration at The Edge where votes were being counted on June 19, 2026 in Wigan, England. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham of the Labour Party has been elected as MP for Ashton in Makerfield, paving the way for a challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmers Leadership. (Photo by Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images)
Photographer: Ryan Jenkinson
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Getty Images Europe
Copyright: 2026 Getty Images

Farage’s only confirmed challenger so far is Count Binface. The satirical candidate told the other parties: “Leave him to me.”

The contest is likely in August if Farage gets his way – but House of Commons authorities still need to agree to his request.

Big Read

6 min read

Watch more from The i Paper

She defended the plans and insisted that applying them to people already in the UK was in line with settled case law as set out in the courts, arguing that a departure from this would be a “very big change” and “would drive a coach and horses through a government’s legitimate ability to control the border”.

Mahmood highlighted the prospect of transitional arrangements in a message aimed at Labour rebels as she appeared at the Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee, although a spokesman for the Home Secretary stressed afterwards that no decisions had yet been made.

She told the committee: “What I would say to colleagues who have concerns in this area – we’re consulting on transitional arrangements and we have received a lot of consultation responses on what the transitional arrangements should look like.

“What you’re not asking for is no retrospectivity; what you’re saying is have an exemption or special treatment for particular cohorts of people that are in the system at the moment.

“Which is fair enough as governments sometimes provide exemptions or bespoke new routes as well, and we received consultation responses on all of those.”

Mahmood also discussed some of the areas where transitional measures may apply.

“All aspects of the policy are yet to be settled; this hasn’t been a fake consultation exercise where the Government already knows all of the policy and is just sort of looking like we ask for views,” she said.

“There will be lots of transitional arrangements that haven’t had a lot of air time and debate publicly on spouses, on older household members, on whether you look at household income or individual income, and of course the policy on children remains to be settled.”

Speaking afterwards, a spokesman for Mahmood said: “As the Home Secretary said to the committee, we are consulting on whether there should be transitional arrangements for some people in the UK today who have not received settled status. We are currently reviewing the 200,000 responses and no decisions have been made.”

Meanwhile, Mahmood said the controversial use of military bases was the “future” of housing asylum seekers as she insisted the Government was on track to close all asylum hotels by 2029.

Last week, The i Paper revealed that the Home Office was forced to abandon plans to send 300 asylum seekers to a military base in the Scottish Highlands in the face of legal objections, although later in the week Mahmood announced plans to use three more Ministry of Defence (MoD) sites to house migrants.

Mahmood told the committee: “Military bases we see as the future of asylum accommodation. We think that can actually have better impact with the ability of crowding services on a site as opposed to other models.

“We have seen the stresses and strains of other accommodation such as hotel use. The expansion of use of military sites is a key plank of Government policy in this area.”

Home Office to give some migrants ‘special treatment’ in new 10-year rule

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