migrants

The court dropped all the charges against Matteo Salvini in relation to an incident in 2019 when he refused to allow migrants to leave the ship.

The coast guard said the incident occurred while the speedboat was carrying out ‘dangerous manoeuvres’ to try and evade a patrol vessel.

Matteo Salvini faces up to six years in jail over the 2019 incident which saw him refuse to allow migrants to leave the Open Arms rescue ship.

The Home Secretary said work to reduce the asylum backlog meant another seven hotels had been issued with closure notices.

The man, 22, who was unknown to authorities, was taken into police custody on Saturday evening.

Home Secretary refuses to say when number of people arriving on small boats will fall, after Thursday saw the highest ever December crossing figure.

Yvette Cooper met her Italian counterpart, Matteo Piandetosi, along with the UN refugee agency’s representative to the country, Chiara Cardoletti.

Yvette Cooper is also expected to address the right-wing Atreju gathering organised by the Italian prime minister’s party.

Crossings resumed on Thursday after an eight-day hiatus, with more than 600 arriving in a single day.

Provisional Home Office figures show 33,973 people have arrived in the UK after making the crossing so far this year.