In its the news release about the agreement to return sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, the government says this deal will close a potential illegal migration route. It explains:

The UK and Mauritius have reached a historic agreement to secure the strategically important UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, which plays a crucial role in regional stability and international security.

For the first time in more than 50 years, the status of the base will be undisputed and legally secure, following a political agreement between the UK and Mauritius …

Without today’s agreement, the long-term, secure operation of the military base would be under threat, with contested sovereignty and legal challenges – including through various international courts and tribunals …

Diego Garcia has also seen a small number of vulnerable migrants arrive since 2021, subsequently launching asylum claims. The agreement will shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, with Mauritius taking responsibility for any future arrivals.

In a statement, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said:

Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future. It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner.

And here is the text of the joint statement from the UK and Mauritius about the deal.

Keir Starmer spoke to Pravind Jugnauth, the prime minister of Mauritius today, following the deal to return sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to his country.

But No 10 stressed that, under the deal, he UK/US military base on Diego Garcia will continue to be able to operate.

In its summary of the call between the two prime ministers, Downing Street said:

The leaders began by welcoming the political agreement achieved today between the UK and Mauritius on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago after two years of negotiations.

The prime minister reiterated the importance of reaching this deal to protect the continued operation of the UK/US military base on Diego Garcia.

He underscored his steadfast duty to national and global security which underpinned the political agreement reached today.

The homelessness figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Governmment out today suggest that rough sleeping in England increased by 14.2% in the year ending in March 2024.

They show there were 16,680 households who were rough sleeping when they approached a local authority for help with housing in 2023-24.

Commenting on the figures, Vikki Slade, the Lib Dem housing spokesperson, said:

It is heartbreaking to think that so many families and children will be on the streets or without a place to call home this winter.

For years, the previous Conservative government chose to ignore the thousands that are rough sleeping and broke their promise to ban no fault evictions.

The new government must address this awful situation as a matter of urgency and that starts by publishing a cross-Whitehall plan to end all forms of homelessness within this parliament.

Slade said today’s figures also show that the number of households living in temporary accommodation reached 117,450 in March 2024 – the highest figure since these records began in 1998.

There are different measures of rough sleeping. There is also an annual count of how many people are rough sleeping one night in the autumn, and the figure for autumn 2023 was 3,898. That was a 27% increase on the previous year, but the government said that was partly the result of homelessness returning to levels it was at before the Covid measures to bring people off the streeets brought it down dramatically.

The UK has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of bitter dispute over Britain’s last African colony, Haroon Siddique reports.

Today’s homelessness figures highlight the need for the government to press on with banning no-fault evicitions, campaigners say.

The figures show a 4.6% increase in the number of households in England threatened with homelessness because an assured shorthold tenancy has come to an end.

The last government promised to abolish section 21 evictions (so-called because section 21 of the Housing Act allows no-fault evictions with two months’ notice), but it never implemented this promise and Labour is now doing this with its renters’ rights bill.

Tom Darling, director of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said:

It’s frankly ridiculous section 21 still exists – we’re approaching 6 years since the previous government first promised to abolish it, while every indicator on the dashboard has been going in the wrong direction. And now we discover homelessness caused by evictions is up almost 5% on the previous year. It’s clear from today’s data that that the renting crisis is driving the homelessness crisis …

Amid this escalating social crisis, the government’s renters’ rights bill is absolutely crucial. This legislation is a significant improvement on the last government’s effort. As drafted it will already make a difference for a lot of people.

The number of households in England needing help with homelessness rose by more than 10% last year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

In a report out today with homelessness figures for the financial year ending in March 2024, it says “initial assessments were made for 358,370 households in England in 2023-24, up 10.4% from the previous year”. The report says:

146,430 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness and therefore owed a prevention duty in 2023-24. This is a 3.1% increase from 2022-23. The increase from 2022-23 has been influenced by a 4.6% increase, to 57,340 households, in those threatened with homelessness due to the end of an assured shorthold tenancy. …

178,560 households were assessed as homeless and therefore owed a relief duty in 2023-24. This is up 12.3% from 2022-23. Similar to increases in prevention duties, this also has been influenced by an 8.9% increase, to 22,160 households, in those threatened with homelessness due to the end of an assured short hold tenancy.

The homelessness figures cover familes that get help from local authorities either as a result of the prevention duty (an obligation to help a household threatened with homelessness) or the relief duty (an obligation to help households already homeless). These figures apply to people who get placed in temporary accommodation, such as B&B rooms. These are the the same as the rough sleeping figures, which cover people sleeping on the streets.

Commenting on the figures, Rick Henderson, CEO at Homeless Link, a body representing homlessness services, said:

Everyone needs a safe and secure place to live, but alarmingly the number of people being threatened with or forced into homelessness continues to surge, exposing people’s lives to trauma. Vital homelessness support services are at breaking point and many councils – spending the lion’s share of their budgets on temporary accommodation – are facing bankruptcy.

Urgent action is needed. Building social housing and the promised cross-government strategy should reduce homelessness in the long-term, while the renters rights bill will help prevent homelessness among people renting privately. But a cliff-edge in homelessness funding is looming in March 2025. The government must therefore use the autumn budget to provide financial certainty for homelessness services.

Good morning. Yesterday Keir Starmer made the surprise announcement that he has paid back £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality, including Taylor Swift tickets and rented clothing for his wife, received since he became prime minister. The news overshadowed reports about what happened on his visit to Brussels to meet the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen (also important – here’s our story), but No 10 felt they had to put the news out yesterday because the donations were all being revealed in the latest update to the Commons register of members’ interests published yesterday.

However, as is often the case when a politician under pressure over ethics/transparency makes a concession to critics/the media/public opinion, Starmer has now opened himself up to a whole new bout of questions. The Conservative party (which has a lot of experience of donation scandals) is on the case, and last night it issued this statement.

Day after day more and more comes out about the scandal at the top of Keir Starmer’s government. This scandal has become a complete distraction from the job of governing.

It appears Starmer will only be transparent when his back’s against the wall. This announcement today poses more questions than it answers. Why did Starmer take these freebies in the first place? Why haven’t Angela Rayner and other senior party members not paid back donations?

Starmer said yesterday that his government would be drawing up new “principles” to cover political donations and No 10 indicated that Starmer was not saying it was always unacceptable for ministers to accept donations.

This article by Peter Walker looks at some of the other revelations in yesterday’s updated register of members’ interests.

We’re likely to get more on this as the day goes on.

Parliament is still in recess, and there is not a lot in the diary. Boris Johnson’s memoir is out today; it has already been serialised extensively in the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, but today journalists will get their chance to find the bits that Mail might not have been keen to highlight. There are homelessness statistics out. And David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is due to visit Dublin with Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister dealing with Brexit-related issues.

If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.

If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. I’m still using X and I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I’m also trying Bluesky (@andrewsparrowgdn) and Threads (@andrewsparrowtheguardian).

I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.