ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY
We do not have capacity to cover all stories related to criticism of social media posts by political candidates.
9 June: In a speech at the Institute for Government, strongly criticised by the Traveller Movement and the APPG for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch pledges to abolish the Public Sector Equality Duty and refers to ‘Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities breaking laws that no one else would get away.’ She also cites the murder of Henry Nowak, the Southport murders and the Manchester Arena bombing. (Institute for Government, 11 June 2026, Guardian, 9 June 2026)
9 June: Palantir sends a ‘letter before action’ to London mayor Sadiq Khan’s office signalling its intention to sue for blocking its £50 million data analysis contract with the Met Police, a decision Khan says was made for reasons of ‘value for money’ and ‘breach of procurement rules’, not political considerations. (Guardian, 9 June 2026)
11 June: Liverpool City Region launches its first anti-racism strategy, which aims to ‘dismantle systemic racism, build trust between institutions and BME communities, and ensure lived experience shapes future decisions’. (LocalGov, 11 June 2026)
14 June: Around 54 per cent of Swiss voters reject a proposal by the anti-immigration Swiss People’s Party to limit the country’s population to 10 million by 2025. Roughly 28 percent of the current population (9.1 million) are foreign-born, many of whom work in health care. (Politico, 14 June 2026)
14 June: Nigel Farage says Reform UK would ban foreign nationals from social housing, apply the ban retrospectively regardless of tenants’ length of stay, and deport them if they could not find private-sector housing, in the run-up to the Makerfield by-election, where Reform is reportedly losing ground to the further-right Restore party. (Guardian, 14 June 2026)
15 June: A Reform UK government would ban schools and colleges from engaging in diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives and appoint Whitehall enforcers to ensure compliance, according to Nigel Farage’s new essay titled ‘Britain is a two tier state – against white people’. (Schools Week, 15 June 2026)
17 June: Restore UK publishes the Rape Gang Inquiry Report alleging systematic sexual exploitation of 250,000 predominantly white British girls by predominantly ‘Muslim Pakistani gangs’. It recommends mandatory tracking of ethno-religious offender data, harsher sentencing (including the death penalty) and deportations. The PSNI reports that there is no evidence for the claim that Antrim and Newtownabbey have a ‘grooming gang’ problem. (Belfast Telegraph, 18 June 2026)
17 June: Following a rise in anti-Sikh hate crimes linked to Nigel Farage’s call for ‘pure cold rage’ in relation to the killing of Henry Nowak, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice meets Sikh leaders, and Sikh Reform activists warn that the party’s call for a repeal of the religious exemption whereby Sikhs can carry the kirpan risks losing Sikh voters for good. (Guardian, 17 June 2026)
17 June: Right-wing MEPs celebrate the passing of the EU’s toughest ever migration legislation, allowing longer detention and more deportations, by chanting ‘Send them back’. Centre-left and left MEPs respond with chants of ‘Shame on you’. The Migration Pact is condemned by 16 UN experts as permitting manifold human rights violations. (Guardian, 18 June 2026)
18 June: A Byline Times investigation establishes that a plan to create a right-wing agenda around mass deportations of ethnic minority British citizens is being underwritten by Reform donor Richard Smith, who owns 55 Tufton Street, the venue for a number of right-wing lobby groups. Restore UK had previously published a 133-page mass deportation programme arguing that ‘millions will have to go’. (Byline Times, 18 June 2026)
📌 ICYMI — Revealed: The ‘Right-Wing Arms Race’ to Deport Non-White Britons – Backed By the Tufton Street Brexit Lobby — @nafeez.bsky.social
— Byline Times (@bylinetimes.bsky.social) 21 June 2026 at 14:01
18 June: In Sweden, the government launches an inquiry, led by terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp, into the threat that ‘political Islam and Islamism’ allegedly poses to democracy. (Sweden Herald, 18 June 2026)
18 June: Your Party warns that the National Security (States Threat) Bill is an ‘alarming expansion of state power’, as it gives the home secretary sweeping powers to criminalise campaigns at will and target individuals deemed guilty of expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of bodies that the home secretary deems prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK. (Your Party, 18 June 2026)
19 June: Reform UK (35 per cent) and Restore UK (7 per cent) are soundly beaten in the Greater Manchester Makerfield by-election, where Labour candidate Andy Burnham secures 55 percent of the vote. While this is the first time Restore UK has fielded a parliamentary candidate, it won its sixth highest share of the vote in Makerfield at the last general election. (Guardian, 19 June 2026; Byline Times, 19 June 2026)
22 June: Scotland’s first minister John Swinney says that a series of anti-Muslim attacks in Edinburgh [see racial harassment below] should be a ‘wake-up call for Scotland’ that intolerance is being legitimised. He accuses Reform MSPs of using language which causes ‘division’ among communities. (BBC Scotland, 22 June 2026)
22 June: Muslim community organisations and politicians urge the prime minister to convene an emergency Cobra meeting following anti-Muslim attacks in Edinburgh that left five people injured. (Express, 22 June 2026)
23 June: In the European parliament, MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen (Finns Party) is accused of racist behaviour after responding ‘cry more’ to a post where Iraqi-born Swedish MEP Abir Al-Sahlani expressed feeling unsafe in the parliament following a motion on ‘return hubs’ for failed asylum seekers. MEP Kristoffer Storm (Denmark Democrats) is also criticised for commenting, ‘Abir Al-Sahlani should go home’. (YLE News, 23 June 2026)
ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT
10 June: Labour MP Melanie Ward reports 32 charities to the Charity Commission, alleging that they have between them donated over £28 million to Israeli settlements which are illegal under international law. (Guardian, 10 June 2026)
10 June: A Russian neo-Nazi network linked to sanctioned oligarch Konstantin Malofeev is found to have begun pushing ‘White Lives Matter’ propaganda around the murder of Henry Nowak weeks before the narrative reached mainstream British politics. (Byline Times, 10 June 2026)
13 June: Eight arrests are made as a far-right anti-immigration protest by South East Patriots draws around 300 people to Brighton, vastly outnumbered by an estimated 4,000 counter-protesters at the Carnival Against Fascism. (BBC News, 13 June 2026; The Argus, 14 June 2026)
17 June: Polish police launch an investigation after videos emerge of men in military-style uniforms patrolling Warsaw Central railway station and questioning people they believe to be foreigners. The group behind the patrols, Bronimy Polskiej Granicy (‘We Defend the Polish Border’) is reportedly connected to ultra-nationalist MEP Grzegorz Braun. Prime minister Donald Tusk warns that anyone impersonating a public official by checking foreigners’ IDs will face criminal charges. (Anewz, 17 June 2026; TVP World, 16 June 2026)
18 June: Over 500 anti-fascist protesters block the entrance to the Oxford Union, preventing most ticket holders from attending a debate featuring Tommy Robinson and Laurence Fox titled ‘The West Is Right To Be Suspicious Of Islam’. (Independent, 18 June 2026)
20 June: A Britain First march calling for mass deportations draws hundreds of counter-protesters to Birmingham city centre, with police deploying significant numbers to keep the groups apart. Four counter-protesters are arrested. (BBC News, 20 June 2026)
23 June: Leaders of Raise the Colours agree to stop hoisting flags on lampposts in Oxfordshire as the council obtains a High Court injunction against the group and ‘persons unknown’ to stop the flag-hoisting and stop encouraging others to do so. (Guardian, 23 June 2026)
POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
10 June: A parliamentary justice select committee report warns that restrictions on the right to jury trial will likely increase Black people’s mistrust of the criminal justice system, where only 1 per cent of crown court judges are Black, as more Black defendants than white opt for jury trial. (Guardian, 10 June 2026)
12 June: A judge imposes enhanced sentences for ‘terrorist connection’ of up to 7 years and 8 months on four Palestine Action activists who smashed drones and other equipment in an Israeli arms factory in 2024, despite terrorism neither being charged nor mentioned to the jury, in what supporters describe as ‘an unprecedented escalation on the UK’s crackdown on Palestine solidarity movements’. Outside the court, 100 protesters with placards reading ‘Saving lives is not terrorism, I support Palestine Action’ are arrested for alleged support for terrorism. (Guardian, 12 June 2026; Open Democracy, 12 June 2026)
14 June: Police make 14 arrests at a protest outside an Edgware synagogue where sale of Israeli real estate is being held, including in illegal settlements, according to protest organisers. A Palestinian Youth Movement spokesperson says that after attempting to normalise genocide, Israel is attempting to normalise ‘the selling of our homeland’. (Guardian, 14 June 2026)
15 June: The Court of Appeal declares the ban on Palestine Action lawful, reversing the High Court judgment, as police outside the court arrest 117 protesters for alleged support for terrorism, taking the total number of arrests for carrying placards since the ban in July 2025 to over 3,000. PA founder Huda Ammori vows to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. (BBC News, 15 June 2026)
17 June: A report by several French NGOs finds that police use on the spot fixed penalty criminal fines for alleged public disturbances offences as a racial profiling tool, leading to harassment and eviction from public space of young men from Black, Arab or North African backgrounds. The French interior minister says that the designation of ‘undesirables’ in police computers has been removed. (Human Rights Watch, 17 June 2026)
NEW: French police are using overbroad powers to issue on-the-spot fixed penalty criminal fines as a new tool for racial profiling.
New report from Human Rights Watch, (RE)CLAIM, and Maison Communautaire pour un Développement Solidaire (MCDS): https://bit.ly/3ShkoAu
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw.org) 17 June 2026 at 15:30
18 June: Police who arrested an innocent Black teenager in south London for the attempted murder of his mother, who had in fact attempted suicide, are ordered to pay Daryl McLune up to £130,000 in compensation after he takes a civil action against the police for racial discrimination. (Independent, 18 June 2026)
22 June: The chief constable of Greater Manchester police says that policing in Britain has ‘adopted the language of activism’, particularly ‘anti-racism’. He criticises National Police Chiefs’ Council guidance (currently under review in the wake of Henry Nowak’s murder) for over-correcting to combat accusations of racism by allowing police to treat suspects differently depending on their ethnicity. (Guardian, 22 June 2026)
22 June: The judge presiding over trials of Palestine activists at Woolwich Crown Court [see above 12 June], refers defence barrister Rajiv Menon KC for contempt of court for the second time, arguing that his closing speech ‘misled the jury’ and breached his directions, after the appeal court ruled that the judge’s previous referral was procedurally wrong. (Law Society Gazette, 23 June 2026)
ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP
Asylum and migrant rights
11 June: Ministry of Justice figures reveal that the asylum appeal backlog reached a record 87,500 cases by the end of March 2026, a 70 percent year-on-year increase, as more asylum claims are rejected more quickly. (BBC, 11 June 2026)
12 June: The Windrush Justice Community Collective, supported by 70 public figures, calls for a complete redress of the Windrush compensation scheme to be placed under an independent body overseen by a judge or commissioner, along with a statutory public inquiry, non-means-tested free legal help for claimants and for survivors to be given their preference of citizenship or indefinite leave to remain. (Guardian, 12 June 2026)
Borders and internal controls
10 June: Mohammad Tajik from Afghanistan and Alnour Ali from Sudan are the first people to be imprisoned for steering a small boat under the new criminal offence of endangering others during a sea crossing. As both sentences exceed 12 months, they will be automatically considered for deportation. The Crown Prosecution Service says that 15 other migrants are awaiting trial for the new offence. (Guardian, 10 June 2026; Info Migrants, 12 June 2026)
10 June: Solidarity group Caminando Fronteras reports that over 1,300 people died from January to May this year trying to get to Spain via the Atlantic, with boats leaving from Morocco, Mauretania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea for the Canary Isles. Many of those setting out are unaccompanied minors. (InfoMigrants, 10 June 2026)
12 June: As the EU’s migration pact comes into force, bringing in expanded detention powers, fast-track removals and ‘return hubs’ outside EU borders, several member states have reportedly failed to provide safeguards for asylum seekers, while no clear mechanism to track and stop illegal pushbacks exists. (The Week, 12 June 2026; The Parliament, 15 June 2026)
12 June: It emerges that fewer than 9,000 asylum seekers will be relocated from ‘frontline’ countries including Italy, Spain and Greece in 2026 under the EU Migration Pact’s ‘mandatory solidarity’ provisions, although 670,000 people sought asylum in 2025 and the minimum stipulated by the Pact is 30,000. (EuroNews, 12 June 2026)
17 June: French riot police deployed in northern France to prevent asylum seekers boarding small boats are authorised under the £660m UK-France deal to use water cannon, although their use by police in Britain is prohibited. Care4Calais chief executive Steve Smith called it a ‘sickening escalation in the state violence being waged against refugees here in Calais’. (Guardian, 17 June 2026)
18 June: As 60 NGOs call on the Home Office to halt the rollout of AI facial age estimation, a leaked Home Office review reveals that when contracts were awarded for the rollout in 2027, the technology was known to be unreliable, with error rates over 4 years for sub-Saharan girls, meaning 14-year-olds can be assessed as adults. In some tests the technology wrongly assessed age in 70 percent of cases. (Independent, 18 June 2026)
Reception and detention
10 June: The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) reports that staff at a short-term holding centre wore England flags associated with far-right and anti-migrant groups pinned to their uniforms, and finds continuing ‘systemic failings across immigration detention […] exposing detained people to avoidable harm’, including unlawful detention of children held under the ‘one in, one out’ scheme. (Guardian, 10 June 2026)
🚨 A report by the Independent Monitoring Board raises concerns about immigration detention, including:
❌ Harm without accountability
❌ Use of force
❌ Failed safeguardsThe report shows what we already know: detention is harmful, cruel, and retraumatising.
www.theguardian.com/society/2026…
1/ 🧵— Women for Refugee Women (@4refugeewomen.bsky.social) 10 June 2026 at 13:05
11 June: Whistleblowers working at immigration detention centres run by Mitie allege racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and hate speech by some Mitie employees, who they say are creating a hostile, discriminatory culture, as they call for a full and thorough investigation. (Guardian, 11 June 2026)
12 June: According to the annual report from the Independent Monitoring Board, by the end of 2025, 60 percent of those held at Derwentside IRC, England’s sole women-only detention centre, received ‘alternatives to detention’, as Women for Refugee Women maintain that detention is ‘entirely pointless’, ‘extremely costly and extremely harmful.’ (BBC, 12 June 2026)
12 June: The Home Office ends its asylum contract with the Bell hotel in Epping, the scene of violent far-right protests last summer, and removes all staff and residents from the hotel. (Guardian, 12 June 2026)
15 June: Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick is criticised by the chair of the independent Manston Inquiry for failing to give evidence about conditions at the processing centre, described as ‘wretched’ and ‘really dangerous’ following the 2022 inspection by the independent chief inspector of Borders and Immigration, after Hussein Haseeb Ahmed died from diphtheria. (Guardian, 15 June 2026)
Deportations
22 June: Following the extension of the UK-France ‘one in, one out’ deal to October, it is amended to enable second returns to France of those smuggled back to the UK after being removed. (Guardian, 22 June 2026)
HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION
18 June: The EHRC publishes a progress report to the UN CERD on the areas of concern to the committee, saying the right to peaceful assembly must be protected; data on the impact of protest policing on ethnic minorities is lacking; the Windrush compensation scheme needs further reform to ensure victims receive due compensation; and robust monitoring of the Prevent duty is needed to ensure non-discriminatory application. (UK Human Rights Blog, 22 June 2026)
EDUCATION
10 June: The Runnymede Trust, focusing on a book audit at the Mill Library at the Lowry Academy, Greater Manchester, warns that authors, librarians and teachers are under mounting pressure to restrict access or remove titles from school libraries, including those on race, identity and empire. (Runnymede Trust, 10 June 2026)
11 June: Almost half of the GCSE attainment gap between poorer pupils and their wealthier peers is ‘locked in’ by the end of primary school, new research warns. (Schools Week, 11 June 2026)
HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE
11 June: The IPPR warns of another asylum homelessness crisis as more people leave asylum accommodation without a route into housing. (LocalGov, 11 June 2026)
12 June: Official figures show that the number of households living in temporary accommodation in Northern Ireland has risen by 79 percent over the past five years, with the number of children increasing by 65 percent over the same period. (Housing Today, 12 June 2026)
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
12 June: A coalition of medical associations representing over 13,000 healthcare workers calls on the government to immediately pause the rollout of a series of measures, recommended following a review by Lord Mann, that they argue would censor pro-Palestine advocacy in the NHS. (Middle East Eye, 12 June 2026)
18 June: Lawyers representing Dr Ranjeet Brar, a doctor who was suspended by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust following a speech he gave at a demonstration in April 2026, challenge the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism in his suspension, in a High Court judicial review. (Middle East Monitor, 18 June 2026)
CULTURE| MEDIA| SPORT
12 June: GB News presenter Bev Turner denies that the racist violence in Belfast amounts to a riot, claiming on air that ‘not a house has been burnt down’ despite her own reporter describing families being evacuated from burning homes. Stop Funding Hate founder Richard Wilson warns that framing mob violence as ordinary frustration ‘makes the next ones more likely’. (Byline Times, 12 June 2026)
🔴 GB News Presenter Denied Racist Violence in Belfast Was a ‘Riot’ and Claimed ‘Not a House Has Been Burnt Down’ — @josiahmortimer
Bev Turner told her viewers that the Belfast violence amounted to mere ‘skirmishes’ despite hundreds of masked men…https://t.co/ysorNAFnyq
— Byline Times (@BylineTimes) June 12, 2026
12 June: France’s cybersecurity agency Viginum reveals that Israeli tech firm BlackCore used at least 256 proxy social media accounts on X to post coordinated disinformation targeting Scottish first minister John Swinney and the SNP more than 1,400 times during this year’s Scottish parliament elections. (Guardian, 12 June 2026)
15 June: On social media, it is claimed that the rape of a woman in Arbroath was carried out by ‘illegal migrants’. After a white British man is arrested on suspicion of the rape, Police Scotland criticises inaccurate online posts. (BBC News, 15 June 2026)
23 June: A video installation by Turner prize-winning artist Helen Cammock is removed from the National Portrait Gallery after 50 peers, including Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames, write to the gallery objecting to a line comparing Winston Churchill’s role in the 1943 Bengal famine to Oliver Cromwell’s campaigns in Ireland. Cammock says that she withdrew the work herself and rejects pressure on artists and institutions to bend to external criticism. (Guardian, 23 June 2026)
RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT
10 June: It emerges that, during protests in Scotland reacting to events in Belfast, worshippers at Glasgow’s largest mosque had to be locked in as a group of men wearing black hoodies and balaclavas attempted to storm the building. (LBC, 10 June 2026)
12 June: A man is arrested on suspicion of arson after the home of an imam in Bolton is firebombed. The family say that police are not treating it as a hate crime. Hours before, a suspicious package was found at the Zakariyya Jaam’e Masjid. (Manchester Evening News, 11 June 2026; Manchester Evening News, 12 June 2026)
14 June: Lancashire police say that a fire close to the Masjid-e-Quwwatul Islam in Blackburn is being treated as suspicious. No one was injured during the blaze and there was minor damage. (Lancashire Telegraph, 14 June 2026)
14 June: West Yorkshire police launch an investigation for criminal damage after a fire is started outside a building under construction near a mosque in Batley. The Al-Hashim Academy, which runs the mosque, points out that, following threats on social media, it applied for additional security funding, but heard nothing. (Facebook [MEND], 18 June 2026; Yorkshire Live, 17 June 2026)
17 June: Amidst growing reports of racist incidents at mosques in the Netherlands, including racist texts, swastikas painted on walls, hate letters and vandalism, Muslim organisations say the country is becoming unsafe for Muslims and ask for funding to protect Islamic places of worship, similar to that already provided for synagogues. (Netherlands Times, 17 June 2026)
18 June: Amid concerns over another summer of anti-Muslim violence, the Muslim Council of Britain releases new national guidance to its 500 affiliated mosques and community centres. The security and preparedness framework for mosques, trustees and volunteers includes advice on carrying out lockdown drills, strengthening ties with local police and improving CCTV coverage. (Guardian, 18 June 2026)
19 June: A teenager is charged with attempted murder in relation to an attack on a Sikh man in his 50s in Smethwick, which police say they are treating as a hate crime motivated by homophobia, not race or religion. (BBC News, 19 June 2026)
20 June: In Pembrokeshire, south Wales, Haverfordwest’s first Black mayor, Councillor Randell Thomas-Turner, hires personal security guards after receiving racist death threats linked to his role. (Mirror, 20 June 2026)
21 June: Unnamed ‘Loyalist sources’ are cited in the media claiming that an arson attack earlier this month on the car of a Nigerian healthcare worker in Rathcoole was ordered by a south-east Antrim UDA boss, who also played a leading role in this month’s racist violence in Newtownabbey. (Belfast Telegraph, 21 June 2026)
An arson attack on the car of a Nigerian healthcare worker was ordered by a South East Antrim UDA boss who played a leading role in the recent race-hate riots in Newtownabbey.https://t.co/QBNfPP7sbohttps://t.co/QBNfPP7sbo
— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) June 21, 2026
22 June: Lewis Hawkes is charged with five counts of attempted murder linked to terrorism following a series of anti-Muslim attacks in Edinburgh on 19 June, in which five people were injured. Two people were stabbed repeatedly following prayers at the Broomhouse mosque; three other men were attacked around shops; and a taxi and a petrol station were also targeted. On arrest, the suspect allegedly shouted ‘I’m protecting the country from these fucking Muslim bastards raping our young daughters’. (Guardian, 21 June 2026; Middle East Eye, 20 June 2026; BBC News, 22 June 2026)
22 June: Lancashire police issue a public appeal as they investigate an incident on South Pier promenade in Blackpool on 29 May in which a woman was reportedly pushed down a set of stairs, racially abused and threatened. (Metro, 22 June 2026)
23 June: In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a man is charged with a ‘terror-motivated plot’ to stab and kill asylum seekers. The defendant’s lawyer says that his client, who has mental health issues, was responding to the murder of a 17-year-old girl allegedly linked to a resident at an asylum centre in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. (Netherlands Times, 23 June 2026)
This calendar is researched by IRR staff and compiled by Sophie Chauhan, with the assistance of Graeme Atkinson, 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.