ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY

As anti-migrant, anti-equalities, anti-abortion, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQI rhetoric in electoral campaigning are increasingly interlinked, we reflect this in the coverage below which also includes information on the influence of the Christian Right as well as the religious Right generally.

1 May: In the local mayoral and council elections held in England, the far-right anti-immigration party Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, takes votes from both the Conservatives and the Labour Party to win 677 council seats, take control of ten councils and win the mayoralties in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire. In a parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, Reform UK also gains a fifth MP by 6 votes in a seat previously held by Labour. (Guardian, 1 May 2025)

2 May: Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), designates the far-right AfD a ‘confirmed right-wing extremist’ force, meaning that authorities can step up their surveillance as critics call for it to be legally banned. The BfV states that AfD’s racist and anti-Muslim stances were ‘incompatible with the free democratic basic order’ of Germany’s constitution. (Guardian, 2 May 2025)

2 May: As US secretary of state Marco Rubio writes on X that the power of Germany’s ‘spy agency’ is ‘tyranny in disguise’ and that the ‘deadly open borders immigration policies’, not the AfD, are extremist, the German foreign ministry reminds Rubio that ‘we have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped’. (Guardian, 3 May 2025)

2 May: The Reform mayor of the newly created authority of Greater Lincolnshire, Andrea Jenkyns (a former Conservative MP) pledges to copy Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by launching ‘DOGE Lincolnshire’ and says that asylum seekers should be housed in tents, not hotels. (Guardian, 2 May 2025; Left Foot Forward, 2 May 2025)

3 May: Unison head Christina McAnea tells staff at Reform-controlled councils to join a trades union, as Nigel Farage, who wants a British DOGE, tells employees working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek ‘alternative careers’. (Guardian, 3 May 2025)

4 May: Former Labour transport minister Louise Haigh urges Starmer to avoid a ‘simplistic and naïve’ lurch to the Right after Reform UK’s local election successes. (Guardian, 4 May 2025) 

4 May: George Simion, leader of an ultranationalist party and self-identified Trump ally, wins the first round of Romania’s re-run presidential election. (Guardian, 4 May 2025)

5 May: Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf announces that councils controlled by his party will only be permitted to fly the Union Jack or St George’s flag on their buildings, flagpoles, balconies, reception desks or Council chamber walls. (Guardian, 5 May 2025)

7 May: As Tory leader Kemi Badenoch criticises the UK-India trade deal for creating a two-tier taxation system (with Indian temporary workers exempted from NI payments), other Tories hail the deal as a positive dividend from Brexit. (Guardian, 7 May 2025)

10 May: According to the Guardian, up to 12 newly-elected Reform UK councillors are facing allegations of sharing social media content ranging from support for the far Right to explicitly Islamophobic comments. Reform UK’s vetting procedure of candidates draws criticism and a number of elected councillors may be suspended or have to leave the party. (Guardian, 10 May 2025)

10 May: Polish nationalists of the PiS party, whose presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki is a Trump fan, stage a ‘No to immigration’ march in Warsaw ahead of the first round of the presidential election on 18 May. (RFI, 10 May 2025)

12 May: Labour MPs, including Zarah Sultana, criticise Keir Starmer for echoing the rhetoric of Enoch Powell by referring to the UK becoming an ‘island of strangers’ to justify new immigration and integration policies. (Guardian, 12 May 2025)

A. Sivanandan 🔊“What Enoch Powell says today, the Conservative Party says tomorrow, and the Labour Party legislates on the day after.”https://t.co/GGfAYS3VfE

— Institute of Race Relations (@IRR_News) May 13, 2025

ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT 

1 May: Far-right activists attack the James Connolly Pub in Dublin during a Celtic supporters’ celebration, hurling racial abuse and physically assaulting attendees. The pub, targeted after a nearby anti-immigration rally, was temporarily closed for safety, with supporters condemning the incident as a disgraceful act of hate. (SportsJoe, 1 May 2025)

6 May: The European Parliament votes to strip far-right Polish presidential candidate Grzegorz Braun of immunity, allowing him to face charges for multiple alleged offences, including using a fire extinguisher to disrupt a Hanukkah celebration in parliament. Braun responds by burning an EU flag as prosecutors investigate him for hate speech and other incidents. (Notes From Poland, 6 May 2025)

8 May: Greek authorities file charges against 29 members of the far-right group Ethnikistiki Neolaia Thessalonikis (ENETH), including 15 minors, for crimes including robbery and forming a criminal gang. A police investigation reveals the group’s violent activities, recruitment of minors, and radicalisation tactics, with members linked to racist attacks and political violence in Thessaloniki. (Ekathimerini, 8 May 2025)

10 May: The French interior minister denounces the lifting by police of a ban on a far-right white supremacist rally in Paris and calls on the police to ban all far-right demonstrations, leaving it to the courts to decide whether they can be held. (RFI, 10 May 2025)

10 May: Around 1000 supporters of the far-right May 9 Committee (C9M) demonstrate in Paris, France, in memory of an ultra-nationalist student killed in 1994. An anti-fascist counter-demonstration is not allowed to take place, with protesters instead rallying at an ‘antifascist village’. (RFI, 11 May 2025)

13 May: The German interior minister bans the Kingdom of Germany, a major faction of the far-right Reich Citizens, and arrests some of its leadership. (Deutsche Welle, 13 May 2025) 

13 May: Anti-fascist researchers reveal that the AfD MP for Brandenburg, Lena Kotré, was a guest at the ‘Remigration Conference’ of the British Homeland Party in Bourne, Lincolnshire, at the end of April and that during her contribution she called for deportation centres  where people could be held for life if necessary. (ReGA Newsletter, no. 6, 12 May 2025)

POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

29 April: A new Statewatch report reveals that the EU is secretly preparing for police, border and criminal justice agencies to develop and use experimental AI technologies, which it warns will reinforce the discrimination, violence and harm caused by policing policies. (Statewatch, 29 April 2025)

2 May: After the government appeals a High Court ruling against former home secretary Suella Braverman, the Court of Appeal upholds the quashing of a key anti-protest regulation, introduced via controversial Henry VIII powers, redefining ‘serious disruption’. (Guardian, 2 May 2025; Statements by PSC and Liberty)

7 May: La Quadrature du Net publishes an English translation of its report on predictive policing in France, warning that the use of the software systems perpetuates the targeting of precarious populations and those most exposed to structural racism. (Statewatch, 7 May 2025)

7 May: A rapid review into the police response to the summer ‘public disorder’ carried out by the inspectorate of constabulary, fire and rescue services criticises the police’s response to online content but finds that the ‘disorder’ was not driven by extremists and was mainly unrelated to ideology or political views. (Emergency Services Times, 7 May 2025)

7 May: Police use powers under the Public Order Act to ban the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) from protesting in Swiss Cottage or surrounding areas, citing the timing of the event (on Friday evenings ahead of the Jewish Sabbath), hate speech and the right of residents to go about their lives without serious disruption. (Ham & High, 7 May 2025) 

ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights

28 April: The Home Office announces an expansion of artificial intelligence use to support asylum caseworkers to reach speedier decisions following two pilots, the Asylum Case Summarisation and the Asylum Policy Search, it claims achieved promising results. Asylum NGOs have expressed concerns over the safety and fairness of AI use. (EIN, 29 April 2025)

30 April: As asylum decision-making doubles, the percentage of asylum seekers accepted at the initial stage falls from 76% to 47%, with three quarters of initially refused claims going to appeal, creating a five-fold increase in appeals and an average wait of 48 weeks. A shortage of legal aid lawyers is forcing people to represent themselves, making a fair hearing impossible. (Big Issue, 30 April 2025)

7 May: A report by Women for Refugee Women into the impact of the work ban on women seeking asylum finds women trapped in abusive or unwanted relationships or situations, forced into sex work or other illicit work, as they face extreme poverty, are unable to feed their children and cannot afford sanitary products, clothes, public transport or phone credit. (Guardian, 7 May 2025)

12 May: Denmark and Italy seek co-signatories to a letter arguing that the ECHR has ‘gone too far’ in recent judgments on migrant rights and needs reining in under a new framework to deal with undocumented migration. (Euractiv, 12 May 2025)

12 May: The prime minister unveils measures to cut net migration in the government’s immigration white paper: extending English language requirements to adult dependants including spouses; preventing care homes from recruiting staff from abroad; doubling the residence requirement for British citizenship to 10 years; requiring skilled workers to have a degree-level qualification; preventing ’abuse’ of asylum by those on student visas, and plans to deport more ‘foreign criminals’. (Guardian, 12 May 2025; Independent, 13 May 2025

Borders and internal controls

29 April: The home secretary says she has ‘persuaded France to change its rules’ by intervening in French waters, where they do not currently act, to prevent migrants crossing. (Independent, 29 April 2025)

5 May: European officials reject a request by the UK government to gain access to the Schengen Information System and Eurodac, a centralised fingerprinting system. (Guardian, 5 May 2025)

6 May: The Council of Europe demands that Greece adopt a ‘zero-tolerance approach’ to pushbacks at its borders. (ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 8 May 2025)

7 May: Three refugees with indefinite leave to remain file a challenge against the good character policy in the nationality application preventing those arriving on ‘small boats’ or hiding in a lorry from becoming British citizens, impacting tens of thousands of refugees. They argue this rule unlawfully discriminates against refugees and breaches the Equality Act 2010. (Independent, 7 May 2025)

8 May: Germany begins turning back undocumented asylum seekers at its borders following the new government’s tightening of border policy. (Deutsche Welle, 11 May 2025)

9 May: A plan to fast-track the appeals of asylum seekers in hotel accommodation by introducing a 24-week deadline could be challenged under the ECHR by those living in hotels and those without government support as they will not have sufficient time to prepare and present their case, officials warn. (Guardian, 9 May 2025)

11 May: One person dies in the English Channel and several are injured as a migrant vessel breaks up off the French coast. The French coastguard bring 68 people back to Boulogne. (Independent, 12 May 2025)

12 May: Bulgaria begins monitoring its border with Turkey using EU-funded high-tech drones, as part of a compromise deal to secure its entry into the Schengen area after Austria demanded it build walls to secure the EU’s external borders. (Euractiv, 13 May 2025)

Reception and detention

1 May: A fake Home Office document circulates on social media with claims that a former social club in Barnwood, Gloucester is to be used as a sports facility for asylum seekers. The local MP says that this is the second hoax letter aimed at sowing division that has been sent out in recent months. (BBC News, 1 May 2025)

5 May: Home Office freedom of information data reveals that 29 staff at the Manston immigration processing centre were sacked in 2024 following positive drug tests, and that no one was sacked in 2022 despite complaints from asylum seekers that some staff tried to sell them drugs and from staff that colleagues were using drugs on duty,. (Guardian, 5 May 2025)

10 May: The Greek asylum and migration minister is reported to have ordered the eviction of all recognised refugees and refused asylum seekers from EU-funded shelters by 14 May, although no alternative housing is available to these groups, who make up half of the shelters’ residents and have often lived there for years. (Greek City Times, 10 May 2025)

13 May: Asylum accommodation providers Clearsprings and Mears tell a parliamentary committee they will hand back around £45 million in excess profits, as their government contracts cap profits at 5%. The other provider, Serco, says its profits are not enough. The three companies made a combined profit of £383 million under the contracts since 2019. (BBC, 13 May 2025)

Deportations 

5 May: Portugal begins a campaign of expulsion of undocumented migrants, believed to number around 18,000 people mainly from South Asia, who will be given 20 days to leave the country or appeal. (ANSA, 7 May 2025)

Citizenship 

5 May: French interior minister Bruno Retailleau circulates an ‘assimilation circular’ to prefects, who conduct the initial selection process among applicants for citizenship, tightening the criteria so that from 1 January 2026, only applications by those with ‘exemplary character’ who adhere to the ‘values of the Republic’ are forwarded to the minister for consideration. (infoMigrants, 8 May 2025)

12 May: The Supreme Court rejects the appeal against revocation of British citizenship of a woman who went to Syria with her violent and coercively controlling husband, accepting that the home secretary’s decision that she was a risk to national security was a reasonable one. (Supreme Court, 12 May 2025)

HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION

8 May: A city official in Stockholm, Sweden, says that the municipality has no plans to comply with a letter it received seeking to impose Trump’s rollback on diversity measures. (Guardian, 8 May 2025)

13 May: Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Michael O’Flaherty says that the state of human rights in Europe is the worst in his professional life, citing states’ willingness to ignore international obligations in their treatment of migrants, refugees and Roma in particular. (EU Observer, 13 May 2025) 

HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE

1 May: The Office for National Statistics finds that the number of homeless children living in temporary accommodation in England has increased by 14% in a year to 165,510. Nearly one in three homeless households are stuck in temporary accommodation out of their area. (Inside Housing, 1 May 2025)

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

2 May: Research by health charity Nesta reveals that a million racialised adults are wrongly classified as below the threshold of obesity or being overweight owing to data errors which could affect treatment and put their health at risk. (Guardian, 2 May 2025)

7 May: NHS staff raise objections and Wayne Farah, due to speak on behalf of the NHS Confederation BME Leadership Network, pulls out after Palantir Technologies, which backs Israel’s military operation in Gaza and plays a crucial role in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is included as a sponsor of NHS Confederation Expo. (Byline Times, 7 May 2025)

🚨Wayne Farah, a coordinator of the NHS Confederation BME Leadership Network, pulls out of NHS Confederation Expo after Palantir Technologies, which has played a crucial role in US ICE deportations, are included as sponsors. https://t.co/7C2HmmFTBn

— Institute of Race Relations (@IRR_News) May 13, 2025

12 May: Analysis by Asthma and Lung UK finds that people with asthma or COPD from racialised backgrounds from deprived areas are between twice and nine times more likely to have emergency admissions to hospital than their white counterparts. (Guardian, 12 May 2025)

EMPLOYMENT| EXPLOITATION| INDUSTRIAL ACTION

6 May: The previous government’s crackdown on visas for families of care workers has led to a huge drop in the numbers of workers coming to the UK as massive staff shortages threaten the survival of many care homes, it is reported. (Independent, 6 May 2025)

9 May: Research shows that modern slavery victims are choosing to stay with their exploiters, rather than accessing government support to protect them, because of fear of immigration enforcement. (Guardian, 9 May 2025)

11 May: German software group SAP, which employs 17,000 people in the US, confirms cuts  to diversity and inclusion measures, which primarily affect female leadership quotas, to comply with the requirements of the Trump administration. (Brussels Times, 11 May 2025)

CULTURE| MEDIA| SPORT

While we cannot cover all incidents of racist abuse on sportspersons or their responses, we provide a summary of the most important incidents. For more information follow Kick it Out. 

2 May: Amid criticism of Belfast rappers Kneecap, which the band’s manager links to a campaign to silence artists who speak out about Gaza, over 100 artists sign a letter to ‘register opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom’, citing Westminster, the British media and ‘influential figures’ within the music industry as behind a ‘campaign of intimidation’. (Belfast Media, 2 May 2025)

4 May: A FocalData poll for British Future finds that the British public is largely unaware of the contribution of Commonwealth soldiers in the second world war. (Guardian, 4 May 2025)

6 May: Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and Israeli musician Dudu Tassa condemn the ‘silencing’ of their joint project after London and Bristol venues cancel June concerts amid threats linked to pro-BDS protests. They claim the shutdown amounts to political censorship of their cross-cultural love song set celebrating Arab-Jewish collaboration and warn that both right- and left-wing actors are weaponising the controversy. (Guardian, 6 May 2025)

8 May: Human Rights Watch calls on the European Commission to act to uphold media freedom in Greece, where independent media, including journalists who work on migration issues, face a hostile environment, including harassment from high-ranking officials and SLAPPS (abusive lawsuits). (Human Rights Watch, 8 May 2025)

Freedom of expression and media freedom are cornerstones of a healthy democracy and the rule of law.

But in Greece, these principles are increasingly at risk due to government efforts to control the media landscape.

New HRW report: www.hrw.org/news/2025/05…

[image or embed]

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw.org) 8 May 2025 at 14:55

9 May: The Charity Commission issues regulatory guidance to the Oxford Initiative for British Islam after investigating claims that its chair, Taj Hargey, drew a comparison between Zionism and Nazism during an interview and said that politicians with family links to Judaism or Zionism should be identified. (Civil Society, 9 May 2025)

12 May: Susan Sarandon, Mike Leigh and over 600 cultural figures sign an open letter accusing the BBC of censoring Palestinian voices by delaying the broadcast of Gaza: Medics Under Fire. The letter criticizes the corporation for failing in its journalistic duty and demands the immediate release of the documentary, which has reportedly been ready for months. (Guardian, 12 May 2025) 

13 May: On the opening day of the Cannes Film Festival, over 350 film industry figures, including Pedro Almodóvar and Susan Sarandon, sign an open letter condemning the genocide in Gaza and the killing of Palestinian journalist Fatma Hassona, and urging the film world to resist silence and censorship. The letter highlights a lack of programming on Gaza despite tributes to Ukraine. (Euronews, 13 May 2025) 

RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

For details of court judgements on racially motivated and other hate crimes, see also POLICING | PRISONS | CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.

29 April: Police investigators reveal that Facebook accounts associated with Owen Lawrence, who seriously wounded two women with a crossbow in Headingley, Leeds and is now dead, reveal racist and misogynistic views, an interest in mass shootings, white supremacy and the ‘great replacement theory’, and also reference the 2019 New Zealand massacre. (New York Times, 29 April 2025; Guardian, 29 April 2025)

9 May: A man suffers a facial injury after being hit by a bottle as he attempts to protect a female passenger who is racially abused and then assaulted by a man and a woman on a bus. (Belfast Media, 9 May 2025) 

This calendar is researched by IRR staff and compiled by Sophie Chauhan, with the assistance of Graeme Atkinson, Sam Berkson, Margaret McAdam and Louis Ordish. Thanks also to ECRE, the Never Again Association, Research Against Global Authoritarianism and Stopwatch, whose regular updates on asylum, migration, far Right, racial violence, employment and policing issues are an invaluable source of information. Find these stories and all others since 2014 on our searchable database, the Register of Racism and Resistance.