Dear IRR News subscriber,

Anti-immigration and nativist movements across Europe are increasingly turning their ire on eastern European workers exercising free movement rights under EU foundational treaties. This week, we show how Swiss nativist parties have drawn a new line in the sand, winning the admiration of those campaigning to end EU free movement rights.

Also, Frances Webber explains that fifteen years after the High Court condemned the prosecution of refugees for using false documents in their quest for a place of safety and parliament provided a statutory defence, they are still being wrongly convicted and sent to prison.

In news from across the UK, following a report by Mark Ellison QC which found the police had planted ‘a spy in the Lawrence family camp’ during the investigation into his death, a judge-led public inquiry into the work of undercover policing has been ordered. A court has heard that a teenager stockpiled weapons, including explosives, for a planned attack on a mosque in Loughborough, among other targets. He had emblazoned EDL slogans on the notebook he used to plot the attacks. And two teenagers in Ashford have been given custodial sentences for racially abusing and assaulting an Asian couple last year. One of those assaulted, a 33-year-old man, has since undergone facial surgery because of the severity of the injuries.

Jon Burnett

Assistant Editor, IRR News