Dear IRR News subscriber,

Six years after Habib Ullah died in police custody in High Wycombe, the IPCC has referred the case to the CPS to decide whether to bring criminal charges against five police officers and a Police Federation solicitor. We show how the treatment of his death demonstrates that the system works at a snail’s pace.

Frances Webber analyses the progress of the Immigration Bill, showing how legislation which strips away legal protection from migrants and will increase homelessness, ill health and destitution, has been virtually unimpeded. And we also discuss how the Tories plan a systematic stream of populist measures on migration and welfare benefits in the run up to the elections, seemingly with no opposition.

In news from across the UK, the BNP splinter group, Britain First, has begun ‘Christian patrols’ of Whitechapel and Brick Lane, driving around in a gulf war vehicle and claiming that they are defending British soil. Ukip immigration spokesman and MEP, Gerard Batten, has been criticised for calling on Muslims to sign a declaration rejecting violence and accepting the need to modify the Qur’an. And it has been revealed that Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation applied for government funding to support Tommy Robinson’s exit from the EDL last year.

Jon Burnett

Assistant Editor, IRR News