Sunak’s decision to call early election one of ‘most stupid political misjudgments’ in history of politics, says Tory – as it happened

5.02pm BST

Closing summary

• The number of visas granted to financially dependent relatives and partners of students coming to study in the UK has fallen sharply compared to last year, according to newly published Home Office data. The figures also showed the UK’s asylum backlog has crept upwards in 2024, despite pledges by the last government to drive numbers down. Small boat crossings had fallen by 29%, while enforced returns are up by 48%. The former Tory chairman Jake Berry said the figures showed that Rishi Sunak’s decision to call an early general election was one of the “most stupid political misjudgements” in the history of politics.

• The aftermath of the pandemic has been squeezed out of GCSE results as 16-year-olds received grades more similar to pre-pandemic levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. But there were wide regional variations in results across England, with students in London powering ahead of pre-pandemic grades, while top grades in Wales and Northern Ireland came down with a bump compared with last year (you can read more on this story here ).

• Ministers have reiterated their opposition to any deal with Brussels allowing young people to live and work in EU countries, after a report said some elements of this could be agreed as part of a wider set of negotiations.

• Unions are to push the government for “pay restoration” deals that would award above-inflation pay rises to public sector workers who have suffered a decade of real-term salary cuts.

• Two of the contenders for the Scottish Conservative leadership – Liam Kerr and Jamie Greene – dropped out of the race to replace Douglas Ross and backed veteran MSP Murdo Fraser for the top job. It leaves three MSPs in contention to become Scottish Conservative leader – Russell Findlay , Murdo Fraser and Meghan Gallacher .

Thank you for reading and all your comments today. This blog is closing now but you can read all of our politics coverage here .

Updated at 5.02pm BST

4.30pm BST

Jessica Murray is the Guardian’s Midlands correspondent, based in Birmingham

Politicians in Birmingham have called for council cuts, thought to be the biggest in local authority history, to be halted or scaled back over concerns the council’s financial crisis may have been overstated.

Birmingham city council is planning to make £300m in savings and sell assets worth £750m before April 2026 after it issued a section 114 notice, in effec declaring bankruptcy, in September last year.

There are concerns, however, that the council does not have a clear picture of its financial situation, and that proposed cuts are based on potentially inaccurate data .

This week a report from the Audit Reform Lab, at the University of Sheffield, commissioned by the Unite, Unison and GMB trade unions, said “cuts and asset sales were progressed in a context of uncertainty around the quality of financial information used to justify these interventions”.

It concluded the council’s financial problems were attributed to a “prematurely disclosed and potentially overstated” equal pay claim liability of £760m that “remains speculative and unaudited”.

The report found cuts had been pushed through with “little public consultation” under “statutory direction”, and would probably lead to “cost spirals and worsening outcomes for the city”.

Related: Birmingham MPs call for council cuts to be halted over financial data concerns

4.00pm BST

As we reported in an earlier post (see post at 10.41 ), the new Home Office statistics showed that health and care worker visas granted to main applicants in the 12 months to June fell by more than a quarter (26%) on the previous year, to 89,095.

There was a steep drop of 81% for the period April to June alone – coinciding with the Conservative government’s ban on foreign care workers bringing loved ones to the UK on their visas.

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group representing adult social care providers in York and North Yorkshire, said:

A fall in the number of overseas staff is the last thing social care needs at the moment, as we are struggling to fill shifts as it is.

The last government’s brutal measures are working and the lifeline of overseas staff to help staff homecare and care and nursing homes has been cut.

He said “serious measures” must be put in place to replace the overseas workers no longer coming to the UK, adding: “We desperately need to see the new government’s promised care workforce strategy and with it some funding measures that will help us to properly reward care workers and enable us to recruit at home, otherwise we will be in dire straits.”

Migrant charity the Work Rights Centre called for the new Labour government to scrap the ban on dependents, saying it isolates workers from their families.

The Home Office said the fall in care worker visa applications and grants towards the end of 2023 “is likely due to more scrutiny applied by the Home Office to employers in the health and social care sector, and compliance activity taken against employers of migrant workers”.

Updated at 4.02pm BST

3.51pm BST

A 20-month prison sentence handed to a 77-year-old woman for a climate protest on the M25 is disproportionate, unjust and a waste of resources, the Green MP Carla Denyer has said.

In a letter to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, Denyer called the jailing of Gaie Delap three weeks ago “an example of an ongoing and serious problem with disproportionate sentencing for climate activists”.

Delap, from Bristol, was sent to prison three weeks ago for her part in a campaign of disruptive protests on the M25 in November 2022.

Denyer, recently elected as the MP for Bristol Central, said she had “deep concern” over the “disproportionate sentence” given to her constituent, whose actions were “entirely peaceful and nonviolent and designed to draw attention to the threat posed by the climate emergency”.

Pointing out that Delap’s protest was intended to force the government’s hand into a ban on new fossil fuel exploration in the North Sea, Denyer added: “As you will be aware, your government has rightly opted not to issue new licences, meaning that Gaie and her fellow protesters have been jailed for advocating for a position aligning with Labour’s own plans.

“So whilst I am encouraged that your government has taken this step towards protecting the environment, Gaie’s disproportionate sentencing neither constitutes justice nor is necessary as a means of discouraging participation in further action to stop new oil and gas extraction.”

You can read the full story by the Guardian’s environment correspondent, Damien Gayle , here:

Related: Jail term for climate protester, 77, is disproportionate, says Carla Denyer

3.27pm BST

Previous government left asylum system in 'meltdown', campaigners say

Home Office figures showed 118,882 people were waiting for an initial decision on asylum applications in the UK at the end of June, up slightly from the 118,329 waiting at the end of March. The Guardian’s home affairs editor, Rajeev Syal , has crunched the latest Home Office numbers on asylum in this story .

In reaction to the figures, released this morning, Imran Hussain, from the Refugee Council, said the last government “left an asylum system in meltdown as a result of the Rwanda plan and the Illegal Migration Act, which effectively banned asylum in the UK”.

The “chaos” meant the “productivity of Home Office decision makers in the months before the election was at its lowest since the height of the Covid pandemic”, he said, warning it will “take time to move the system from a state of crisis to being fit for purpose”.

Marley Morris, from thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the figures show the backlog had “barely changed” in the last few months while ministers were “distracted” by efforts to send migrants to Rwanda in a bid to deter Channel crossings, while academics said asylum processing had stagnated.

Meanwhile, Peter Walsh, senior researcher at the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, said:

Until earlier this year, the government was still working through applications that weren’t affected by the Illegal Migration Act, which meant it was able to progressively reduce the backlog.

However, it seems that the new legislation started to bite in the spring, when the Home Office ran out of older cases to process. In theory, the previous government did have some discretion to continue to process claims (as Labour says it is now doing) but it appears to have decided not to use it.

3.17pm BST

Sunak's decision to call early election was one of the 'most stupid political misjudgements' in the history of politics, former Tory party chair says

The former Tory chairman Jake Berry has said he believes the Conservative government’s plan on illegal immigration was “working” but that Labour has undermined its progress by reversing large parts of it. “Particularly the idea that people who went to our country illegally cannot claim asylum,” Berry, who represented the Rossendale and Darwen constituency, said. His comments came after Home Office stats – which painted a mixed picture – revealed that small boat crossings had fallen by 29%, while enforced returns are up by 48%.

The UK’s asylum backlog crept upwards in 2024, however, despite pledges by the last government to drive numbers down. The data also showed Keir Starmer has inherited a fall in net migration after changes introduced by Sunak’s government.

Speaking to Times Radio, Berry continued:

I think the third thing it proves to me is the fact the absolute idiocy of Rishi Sunak calling that early election.

Everyone tells me what a clever man he is. I think he must have taken leave of his senses that day if he ever had them in the first place because we have had an interest rate cut, the economy is growing and immigration is coming down.

It just will go down in history as one of the most stupid political misjudgements, political judgments, in the history of politics.

Labour is set to continue with some Conservative policies on legal immigration, including the restrictions on who is eligible for dependent visas.

Updated at 5.05pm BST

2.48pm BST

UK ministers rule out joining youth mobility scheme with EU

Ministers have reiterated their opposition to any deal with Brussels allowing young people to live and work in EU countries, after a report said some elements of this could be agreed as part of a wider set of negotiations.

The Times on Wednesday cited unnamed government sources as saying UK ministers accepted they would have to “give ground” over parts of a proposed mutual youth mobility system if they were to get agreement in other areas, such as a reduction in checks on UK food entering the EU.

“If we are serious about resetting relations with the EU then we need to be prepared to give them some of the things that they want,” the source told the paper.

But a government spokesperson said this was not being looked at. “We are not considering it, there are no plans for this, or any work being done on it,” they said.

Asked whether the issue might come up in future talks with the EU, they said: “Our negotiating team has very clear red lines, and none of the preparatory work involves this.”

While Labour has been adamant it will never oversee a return to the free movement of people, the idea of a youth mobility scheme – which would allow EU citizens under 30 to work and study for a fixed period in the UK, and vice-versa – would be more similar to deals the UK has with countries such as Australia.

You can read the full story by my colleagues, Peter Walker and Lisa O’Carroll , here:

Related: UK ministers rule out joining youth mobility scheme with EU

2.39pm BST

Emily Dugan is a senior reporter for the Guardian

Sadiq Khan will ask senior leaders in the Metropolitan police to consider expediting investigations into collisions where children have died after meeting the parents of the two girls killed in the Wimbledon school crash.

The mayor of London’s met the families of Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau, two eight-year-olds who died last year after a Land Rover ploughed into the Study prep school in Wimbledon, south-west London.

Nuria’s parents and Selena’s father met Khan at City Hall on Wednesday, along with their lawyer.

The families raised concerns about the pace of the police investigation, which took almost a year to decide that no charges would be brought against the driver after finding she had an epileptic seizure while at the wheel.

Nuria’s parents spoke to the Guardian in April this year about the devastating impact that the long wait for answers had on them. The Met announced last month it would review its handling of the investigation .

On Wednesday, Khan was pressed on concerns about the handling of the case by Trevor Sterling, a lawyer representing 20 of the families affected by the incident, as well as the parents of Nuria and Selena.

Updated at 3.38pm BST

2.13pm BST

SNP membership drops by 12% in less than a year

Membership of the Scottish National Party has dropped by 12% in less than a year, party accounts show.

The PA news agency reports that accounts filed with the Electoral Commission show that as of June 1 this year, SNP membership stood at 64,525.

That was down 9,411 from the membership the party had - as revealed in the previous year’s accounts - of 73,936 on June 29, 2023.

That compares to 103,884 members the SNP had at the end of December 2021 - with the latest accounts stating: “Our membership has fallen from recent historic highs.”

Income from membership fees has also fallen, with the total raised dropping from £2,286,944 in 2022 to £2,093,967 in 2023.

With the accounts noting the impact of “cost-of-living pressures” on both donations and fundraising income, the party states it is offering members the option of a “holiday” from fees or reduced giving in a bid to help keep numbers up.

“At all levels we need to redouble our efforts to recruit new members,” the accounts state.

Despite the reduction in membership fees, SNP income overall grew last year - going from £4,248,625 in 2022 to £4,753,512 in 2023.

After posting a deficit of just over £800,000 in 2022 the party has returned to surplus, with the figures showing this to be £662,293.

That comes after spending by the party fell markedly from £5,052,284 in 2022 to £4,091,219 in 2023.

However the party’s income for 2023 included £274,408 of cash left in legacies by supporters after their death - with the accounts stating this money “has not actually yet been received”.

1.33pm BST

Scottish Tory leadership hopeful admits he made a 'bad call' when backing Liz Truss to be PM

Scottish Conservative leadership candidate Russell Findlay said he made “a bad call” when he backed Liz Truss to be prime minister.

The former crime journalist turned politician endorsed Truss, who lasted 45 days in office, in August 2022 as she fought to be UK Tory leader.

Her disastrous mini-budget in September 2022 , with its planned £45bn of unfunded tax cuts, was followed by near panic on the bond markets, a slump in the pound and higher mortgage rates.

Asked about his decision to endorse the former prime minister, Findlay, the Scottish Tory justice spokesperson, said:

We all get things wrong. I got that wrong. Our number one job as Conservatives is to look after the country’s finances, to be responsible, and she didn’t do that …

I don’t think it is reasonable to think I could have foreseen how events transpired.

As we reported earlier (see post at 11.29 ), two MSPs – Jamie Greene and Liam Kerr – ended their campaigns and will now back Murdo Fraser to replace Douglas Ross as leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

It leaves three MSPs in contention for the top job – Russell Findlay, Murdo Fraser and former deputy leader Meghan Gallacher . The winner will be announced on 27 September 2024.

1.22pm BST

The number of people resettled in the UK under legal routes set up in the wake of the Taliban takeover has risen year on year but people from Afghanistan were also the most common nationality making the dangerous Channel crossing in the 12 months to June.

The PA news agency has this analysis of the Home Office figures:

Afghans accounted for almost a fifth (18%) of what the Home Office refers to as small boat arrivals for that period.

Some 5,370 Afghans arrived by this route in the 12 months to June, although the government said this number was down by 41% on the previous year.

Combined with other routes such as what the Home Office refers to as inadequately documented air arrivals or port arrivals, a total of 6,009 Afghans were detected arriving by so-called irregular means.

Meanwhile, 7,708 people were resettled in the UK in the year to June under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) – set up as the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

A total of 2,336 people came to the UK in the year to June under the ACRS, which is split into three pathways.

12.42pm BST

Steve Valdez-Symonds , Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, has reacted to the latest Home Office data, saying that most people seeking safety in the UK are assessed to be entitled to asylum, adding that the government needs to provide safe alternative routes to the UK for people to claim asylum (My colleague, Jamie Grierson, has this useful explainer on safe and legal asylum alternatives to cut Channel crossings).

Valdez-Symonds said:

Today’s statistics again show that relatively few people come to the UK seeking safety from war and persecution, and – save for people from Ukraine – nearly everyone seeking asylum must rely on unsafe journeys and people-smugglers because the Government won’t provide safe alternatives.

The statistics show that most people seeking safety in the UK are judged to be entitled to asylum if and when their claims are properly decided, but the system’s still suffering the chronic impact of the previous Government’s disastrous refusal to process claims.

What the raw statistics can’t show is the true circumstances and humanity of each and every person involved.

Sadly, yesterday’s immigration announcement suggests the new Government intends to follow its predecessor by leaning into a heavily ‘securitised’ approach that ignores the vulnerability of people forced to make highly unsafe journeys while shirking its responsibility to establish systems which treat people fairly and with basic humanity.

12.22pm BST

The former home secretary James Cleverly has defended his record as he reacted to the latest Home Office figures which showed the outgoing Conservative government granted 286,382 work visas in the year to June 2024, 11% down on the previous year (see more details in post at 10.41 )

Home Office data also showed the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats fell by almost a third in Rishi Sunak’s last year as prime minister.

Cleverly, who is now the shadow home secretary and is vying to replace Sunak as the leader of the opposition, wrote in a post on X:

When I said I was going to cut migration, I meant it. Visas down, small boat arrivals down, cut the backlog & cut the asylum grant rate. It’s not about words, it’s about delivery.

Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government banned those coming to study in the UK and those on health and care visas from bringing family members and Labour has no plans to change the policy. This is despite there being acute shortages in the health and care sectors and universities depending on much of their funding from overseas students.

Over 19,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year – a 10% increase over the same period last year but a fall from the peak of more than 21,000 in the same period in 2022.

The previous Conservative government tried to reduce numbers through its Rwanda policy, but no flights took off under the now-scrapped scheme, which is estimated by the current home secretary, Yvette Cooper, to have cost £700m worth of taxpayers money.

Updated at 12.26pm BST

12.06pm BST

The gap in GCSE results between private and state schools has widened at the highest grades.

Almost half of entries from private schools scored at least a grade 7 this year, compared to around a fifth of those from both comprehensive schools and academies.

The figures, published by England’s exams regulator Ofqual, show that 48.4% of private school entries scored at least a 7 compared to 19.4% of those from comprehensive schools – a gap of 29 percentage points. Last year, this gap was 28.2 points – an increase of 0.8 percentage points.

The gap at A/7 grades between private and academies – state schools which are free from local authority control – now stands at 27.2 percentage points compared to 26.5 points in 2023, an increase of 0.7 percentage points.

Updated at 12.35pm BST

11.34am BST

Nearly three-quarters of Britons are worried about rightwing extremism after anti-migrant riots, polling has found, with increasing numbers concerned about societal divisions.

The survey also found that while people generally believed politicians did not react especially well to the wave of disturbances, they generally felt Keir Starmer responded well – while Nigel Farage did not.

In one part of the polling where people were asked to name worries, public services and the economy were still of the greatest concern, with 84% and 83% respectively saying they were very or fairly concerned about these.

Below this, 73% of people said they were concerned about rightwing extremism, 11 percentage points higher than when the same questions were asked in March this year.

The findings come amid the worst unrest seen in the UK for a decade in a series of towns and cities after the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in Southport on 29 July.

The Guardian’s senior political correspondent, Peter Walker , has the full story here:

Related: Almost three in four Britons worried about far right after riots

11.29am BST

Two of the contenders for the Scottish Conservative leadership drop out of race

Two of the contenders for the Scottish Conservative leadership – Liam Kerr and Jamie Greene – have dropped out of the race to replace Douglas Ross and backed veteran MSP Murdo Fraser for the top job.

It leaves three MSPs in contention to become Scottish Conservative leader – Russell Findlay , Murdo Fraser and Meghan Gallacher .

Greene told an audience in Perth he would take his own bid for the leadership no further, saying Fraser is the only candidate with the “gumption” to turn things around for the party. Kerr had a similar message, saying the party must unite under a “strong, experienced and respected leader”.

During the general election campaign, Ross announced his surprise resignation amid growing internal pressure over his multiple roles in the party.

He had faced sustained criticism for his decision to serve as an MP at Westminster and as an MSP at Holyrood in north-east constituencies while retaining his part-time role as a match official for the Scottish FA.

The Conservatives retained their three seats across the south of Scotland at the general election, but the leadership contest has been marred by infighting .

11.14am BST

Labour famously insisted during the general election campaign that it would not raise taxes on “working people”. Instead, Keir Starmer said he would end tax breaks for private schools, close tax-avoidance loopholes and introduce a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies.

Now, dozens of firms across the UK’s oil and gas supply chain have expressed “grave concern” about the plans to hike windfall taxes, arguing they threaten jobs and could undermine investment in renewable energy.

BBC News’ business editor, Simon Jack, his this report :

In an open letter to HM Treasury, seen by the BBC, 42 companies have warned that official plans threaten £200bn of investment in all forms of domestic energy, including renewables. The signatories include manufacturing, engineering and technology companies.

The Treasury said, however, that its industrial strategy would create “thousands of new jobs in the industries of the future”.

The government currently plans to increase windfall taxes on oil and gas profits from 75% to 78%, extend the tax until 2030 and abolish tax incentives for further investment.

In the letter, issued by Offshore Energies UK, firms express concern that reduced investment and greater uncertainty would be felt throughout the supply chain “through jobs, and the communities this industry supports, both directly and indirectly.”

They also argue that oil and gas revenues are helping fund investment in renewable energy.

A hostile tax environment would threaten not only the oil and gas industry, but also the firms who invest in renewable energies using cash generated through fossil fuels, the letter suggests.

“The companies investing in nascent opportunities like floating offshore wind and carbon capture and storage will require the cashflow from a stable and predictable oil and gas business to fund these opportunities,” it says.

“Sufficient investment in the UK energy transition can only happen if we support, not undermine our domestic oil and gas sector.”

11.02am BST

Unions to press Labour for ‘pay restoration’ deals for public sector

Unions are to push the government for “pay restoration” deals that would award above-inflation pay rises to public sector workers who have suffered a decade of real-term salary cuts.

The Trades Union Congress’s annual meeting next month is due to vote on a motion that calls for pay restoration to be “a key feature of our campaigning with the new government”, the group’s president said.

The current holder of the TUC’s revolving presidency, the Fire Brigades Union boss Matt Wrack , told the Financial Times – which first reported details of the TUC campaign – that he expected delegates to back the demand.

The PCS union, which is championing the motion, said it aimed to make up for the fact that pay levels had actually fallen an average of 1.5% a year since 2011.

However, it is likely to fuel attacks on Labour from the Conservatives, who have accused Keir Starmer of being “played by union paymasters” after a series of pay deals to settle long-running disputes with striking workers including junior doctors and train drivers.

The government has so far offered a 22% pay deal over two years to junior doctors , who had been calling for a 35% rise to counter a fall in real-wages over the past 15 years. The British Medical Association is holding a member ballot on that deal until mid-September.

You can read the full story from the Guardian’s banking correspondent,
Kalyeena Makortoff , here:

Related: Unions to press Labour for ‘pay restoration’ deals for public sector

Updated at 11.02am BST

10.54am BST

The Home Office has released lots of data today. We will bring you the key highlights but if you want to have a comprehensive look yourself you can find the relevant links to sub-topics we have not yet mentioned (on immigration enforcement, the Windrush taskforce, Ukraine visa schemes etc) here .

These are a few more important highlights from the datasets on asylum applications and leave to remain decisions:

• A total of 67,978 people were granted refugee status or other leave to remain in the UK in the year to June 2024, more than three times the 21,436 in the previous 12 months. Just under three-fifths (58%) of the initial decisions were grants of refugee status, humanitarian protection or alternative forms of leave.

• Nearly all (99%) of people arriving in the UK in the year to June 2024 after crossing the English Channel on small boats claimed asylum or were recorded as a dependant on an asylum application, the Home Office said. Overall, just under a third (31%) of the total number of people claiming asylum in the UK in the year to June had arrived on a small boat.

Updated at 11.03am BST

10.41am BST

Fall in number of visas granted to health and care workers and families of overseas students

The number of visas granted to financially dependent relatives and partners of students coming to study in the UK has fallen sharply compared to last year, according to newly published Home Office data.

In the first six months of this year, visas granted to dependants of overseas students fell by 81% to 11,675, compared to the same period in 2023.

Since January, international students taking taught postgraduate courses or undergraduate degrees have been unable to bring family members or dependents on a student visa.

Separately, Home Office figures show there were 89,095 health and care worker visas granted to main applicants in the year ending June 2024, a 26% decrease from the previous year.

In March, the Conservative government, under former prime minister Rishi Sunak, announced social care workers would no longer be able to bring dependents on their visa.

This is despite post-Brexit immigration controls and staff resignations during and after the Covid pandemic having worsened staff shortages in the care sector.

In 2022-23 there were 160,000 vacancies, according to the charity Skills for Care , which projects there will be another 480,000 jobs in the sector by 2035.

The Home Office statistics also reveal that the outgoing Conservative government granted about 286,382 work visas overall in the year to June 2024 – 11% down on the previous year.

Updated at 10.52am BST

10.24am BST

The number of UK asylum applications withdrawn in the year to June 2024 was 21,425, relating to 23,246 people, up from 14,789 applications and 15,857 people in the previous 12 months.

About 76% of withdrawn applications in the year to June were classed as “implicit withdrawals”, meaning the Home Office chose to withdraw the application rather than the applicant withdrawing it themselves.

Implicit withdrawals cover a range of scenarios, including an applicant not attending an interview, failing to complete a questionnaire by a particular date, or not providing up-to-date contact information.

This has drawn criticism in the past that the Home Office has used withdrawals to speed up clearing the backlog.

Charities have said that withdrawals should never be used to do this and should only be used under very specific circumstances.

Updated at 10.27am BST

10.11am BST

Opening summary

Good morning and welcome back to our rolling coverage of UK politics.

The Home Office has released data on what it calls irregular migration. This includes those arriving on small boats across the English Channel, along with some other groups arriving illegally. Data on asylum applications has also been published. These are some of the main takeaways:

• In the year ending June 2024, there were 38,784 irregular arrivals, 26% fewer than in the year ending June 2023, and 81% of these arrived by small boats.

• In the year ending June 2024, 31,493 people arrived by small boats, 29% fewer than the 44,460 people who arrived in the previous year.

• The average number of people per boat has risen to 51, compared with an average of 44 in the year ending June 2023.

• A total of 118,882 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2024. This is up slightly from 118,329 at the end of March 2024, but down year-on-year by 32% from 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.

• The number of people waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 76,268 at the end of June, down 46% from the record 139,961 at the end of June 2023.

These statistics were released after the home secretary, Yvette Cooper , indicated she will press ahead with the previous government’s plan to reopen two immigration centres in an attempt to achieve the highest rate of removals since Theresa May’s premiership.

She announced the Border Security Command “is gearing up” after the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats exceeded 19,000 this year so far.

The plans, which have been criticised by campaigners who say Labour are demonising migrants through their rhetoric, include 100 more new intelligence officers to target people smuggling gangs.

Here are some of the other main headlines today:

• The number of new child benefit claims rose to 86,656 in April, up 16% on the previous month, according to a freedom of information request obtained by the BBC. It came after the government changed the rules on how much parents can earn and still be eligible for the benefit.

• 16-year-olds received GCSE grades similar to last year and only slightly above pre-pandemic levels. Ian Bauckham, the head of England’s exams regulator Ofqual , hailed this year’s results as a return to consistency, with 70.4% of entries by pupils in year 11 receiving a grade 4 – equivalent to a C – or higher, a touch higher than the 70.3% in 2023 and half a percentage point above 2019. You can follow our GCSE results day blog here for the latest.

• Membership of the main political parties continued to decline last year even as they stepped up preparations for the general election, newly published accounts have shown. Labour shed another 37,000 members over the course of 2023, bringing its total membership at the end of the year to 370,450. Although Labour remained by far the largest party in the UK, the figure is well down on its recent peak of 532,046 at the end of 2019. The Liberal Democrats lost about 11,000 members and while the Conservatives do not publish membership figures, income for the party from membership fees fell from £1.97m to £1.5m.

It is Yohannes Lowe here with you today. Please do email me on yohannes.lowe@theguardian.com if you spot any typos or omissions.