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Iran attacks US bases in Middle East after reports of fatal strike on wedding – Middle East crisis live

Russia has secretly helped Iran build supersonic cruise missiles, according to the Financial Times. The covert programme, codenamed C340L, reportedly began in 2023 and has continued throughout the US and Israels war on Iran. The newspaper, citing Russian correspondence, travel records and military patents, reported that the programme was “one of the most significant known transfers of strategic military technology from Moscow to Tehran”. According to the report, some of Russia’s most experienced missile specialists are helping Iran develop a ramjet propulsion system that could allow anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles to travel at several times the speed of sound, making them more difficult to detect and intercept. Jim Lamson, a former CIA military analyst, said: “For the Iranians, this would give them a qualitatively new strategic weapon system that could threaten US navy vessels.” Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iranian missiles and senior analyst with Conflict Armament Research, told the Financial Times that such a programme “would require political clearance from the very top in Russia”.

EU considers response to Leipzig drone attack after Germany formally blames Moscow – Europe live

Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin said the German decision to attribute the drone attack to Russia was “a grave mistake,” as he attempted to question the evidence behind the decision. He also suggested that Berlin was blaming Russia to distract from its own domestic problems. Former president Dmitry Medvedev lashed out against the German government on Telegram, accusing it of “neo-Nazi, rabidly Russophobic” policy and saying “they deserve a direct strike against all German facilities manufacturing military hardware” for Ukraine. In an angry outburst on Telegram, Medvedev also appeared to suggest that a train carrying European leaders to Kyiv could become a target for Russian strikes if Ukraine were to follow through on its warnings about closing skies above Russia. “Every act of terror has its sponsors. At present, that’s the leaders of western nations, primarily European ones, and they frequently travel to Kyiv by train,” he said.

Guinea-Bissau voters approve new constitution expanding presidential powers

Guinea-Bissau voters have approved a new constitution significantly expanding presidential powers ahead of elections due in December. According to provisional results, 70% of voters approved sweeping changes in the tiny west African state’s first constitutional amendment since revisions that ended the one-party socialist state more than three decades ago. The turnout for Sunday’s referendum was reportedly over 55%, amounting to an estimated 544,060 people. The new constitution will reduce the number of seats in parliament from 102 to 65 and cut electoral constituencies from 29 to 12. New provisions will require presidential candidates to have lived continuously in the country for at least five years before the vote, which is believed to target diaspora-based politicians with significant followings. The referendum’s outcome is expected to pave the way for December’s elections, which many hope will steady the political landscape in Guinea-Bissau, which has been through a series of politically turbulent periods since its declaration of independence from Portugal was globally recognised in 1974. Since then it has had at least 10 coup attempts, half of which have been successful. The most recent came after last November’s disputed presidential elections. Both candidates declared themselves winners, citing electoral malpractice by the other’s camp. The military forcefully intervened, setting up a transitional ruling council headed by Gen Horta Inta-A Na Man, a former military chief of general staff. Na Man said: “What we want after this referendum is to allow whoever wins the elections to see out their mandate without hindrance.” Nelson Moreira, the second vice-president of the transitional council, said the outgoing constitution, which came into effect in 1993, had often been cited as “the cause of instability in Guinea”. The leading opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which was barred from fielding a presidential candidate in the 2025 election, had asked its supporters to boycott the referendum, which it called a democratic farce. “What will happen on 30 August is the continuation of the coup d’état carried out on 26 November,” its leader, Domingos Simões Pereira, had said.

No eggs, no potatoes but ‘a lot of imagination’: how Spain cooked in war’s hunger years

Few dishes are simpler to prepare than Spain’s signature dish of tortilla de patatas, which – aside from disputes about onions – requires nothing more than two basic ingredients and a pinch of salt. But where to begin if you have neither eggs nor potatoes? That is the question the chef and food writer Berta Álvarez Acal sets out to answer in Recetas de Guerra (Wartime Recipes), a compilation of recipes covering the years of hunger after the end of the Spanish civil war in 1939. In the case of the tortilla de patatas, the absent eggs and potatoes were substituted by moistened bread and onion to try to simulate the texture of an omelette. “There was a formula using water, bicarbonate of soda and a bit of oil which simulated an egg perfectly and the potatoes are substituted by bread to make a tortilla that really is delicious,” Álvarez said. In the recipe for “fried squid without squid”, deep-fried onion rings masquerade as squid while the “wartime hake” is instead salt cod. As for the “wartime and postwar breakfast”, this consists of “coffee” made from a blend of barley, malt and chicory. “I got the idea for the book when I came across one of my great-aunt’s handwritten recipe books and I noticed that some of the recipes were marked ‘wartime’,” Álvarez said. “That led me to research recipes from other sources such as Ignacio Doménech, who wrote a book during the war about how to substitute ingredients and how to make the most of leftovers.” She added: “Doménech showed us hundreds of examples of how, with a lot of imagination, we could survive those terrible days of starvation.” Some of Doménech’s recipes, although born of privation, could well find themselves on the menu of an upmarket restaurant today, such as his rose petals with milk and honey. Álvarez did not just compile the recipes. “We recreated them and shared them with friends and family,” she said. “Some dishes, although they were prepared from scraps, surprised us as they were real gems, others were not so great.” The recipes in the book span the period from the founding of the second republic in 1931 to the phasing out of ration cards in 1952. In between, starvation stalked the land, especially in areas that supported the losing republican side in the civil war. According to Miguel Ángel del Arco Blanco, a historian at the University of Granada, between 1939 and 1942 about 200,000 people died of starvation in Spain. While people in the countryside could to some extent subsist on olives and whatever they could grow, Álvarez said “the hunger in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia was horrific”. “It may seem implausible,” she said. “But for far too long, food in the postwar period was far worse than during the war.” Produce previously fed to livestock such as beetroot and turnips found its way to the table while the shortage of protein meant pets, cats in particular, were at risk. “They were dangerous years for cats,” Álvarez said. “People used to put notices up in the hallway saying ‘please respect your neighbour’s cat’. But the cats lived on rats and were not good to eat.” Álvarez said that what she learned while researching the book was to make the most of every kind of produce, adding that the book was also a homage to the generation that lived through those grim years. “I think it’s important that everyone knows what our grandparents lived through because it marked them as a generation. They were incredibly strong.”

UK must end all trade with Israel, says co-founder of BDS movement

Britain’s legal and ethical obligation to stop a genocide in Gaza requires it to take bigger steps than halting trade with illegal Israeli settlements or imposing further sanctions, Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has said. He described sanctions against individual settler groups or extremist ministers as a “smoke and mirrors cop-out and distraction” from the UK’s legal obligation under international law to end all support for Israel, including arms exports, trade deals and academic relations that “may directly or indirectly enable Israel’s illegal occupation” of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The British foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, promised on Tuesday to introduce a “comprehensive reset” of the UK’s policy on Israel in the coming weeks. It has been reported that the UK is preparing to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Miliband told the Commons the government was looking at how to stop British companies “financing, constructing or advertising new settlements”. Miliband has called plans for the E1 settlement, which would involve the construction of 3,400 houses through the heart of the West Bank, unacceptable and destructive, adding that, by cutting across the territory, critics say it will render a two-state solution impossible. Tenders for the settlements are due to be handed out, potentially irreversibly, days before the Israeli elections on 27 October. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have warned Miliband that a UK ban on trade with settlements may fuel antisemitism in the UK. A third group of British Jews, Yachad, also met Miliband to highlight “the growing concerns of many British Jews about the entrenchment of occupation and effective annexation of the West Bank”. Barghouti, an influential advocate for Palestinian rights for more than 20 years, said the litmus test for human rights law and the west still lay in Palestine. He said: “In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel’s entire occupation of Gaza, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and amounts to a violation of the racial segregation and apartheid prohibitions under international law. “Dozens of UN human rights experts have said to fulfil those obligations a set of minimal steps are required: a full military embargo, export import, dual-use transfer and transit. “They also said you have to end all trade, diplomatic and economic relations and academic relations that enable Israel’s illegal occupation.” Barghouti added: “Further in January 2024, the ICJ said there is a plausible case of the violation of Palestinian rights under the Genocide Convention. “The ICJ decided there is a plausible risk of genocide that is sufficient to trigger third state responsibilities. But UK government lawyers seem to ignore that part of the ruling and say the court has not ruled on genocide. “But the genocide convention is very clear – where there is a risk, the obligation to prevent is triggered, and how do you prevent a genocide? You stop enabling it. You end all forms of complicity.” The Israeli embassy referred to the warning by Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, who said: “If Britain acts against the state of Israel, the state of Israel will act against Britain. We have the tools.” He added: “The period is over when people act against the state of Israel and the state of Israel doesn’t respond.” Explaining why he regards UK sanctions as “totally performative”, Barghouti said: “They have no concrete effect in holding Israel to account or pressuring it to comply with international law.” He added: “Israel has de facto annexed the occupied Palestinian territory, making it near impossible [to] differentiate so-called settlement goods and services.” Pressed whether the BDS movement is trying to change the minds of Israelis through economic force, Barghouti insisted sanctions have to be legal and ethical. “They have to target the perpetrators, whether entities or individuals that are involved in crimes, especially international crimes. They are actually measures of accountability, not sanctions that simply say settlers shall not have vacations in London.” Despite South Africa feeling forced to return to the ICJ to point out Israel is not complying with court orders, he said he retained his faith in international law – for all its colonial origins – arguing it was not something engraved in stone, but dynamic. “Humanity has agency to evolve and expand international law. We in the BDS movement have been pushing the envelope of its interpretation.” Barghouti added: “So, in the BDS movement, we try to hold states, corporations and institutions accountable to end their own complicity in genocide rather than just wait for the messiah of international law to come and save us. “We definitely need international law, just as we need to maintain the ethical high ground. Both are necessary, but not sufficient. We need people power to achieve liberation. There is no other way.”

Wednesday briefing: What’s behind the global backlash against datacentres?

Good morning. This summer, datacentres have become targets of resistance across the world. Ever since the arrival of ChatGPT, big tech has been lobbying for the creation of enormous new facilities. Many governments claim they’re essential in any country that wants to cash in on AI. Campaigners argue datacentres drain resources and exacerbate the climate crisis. The Scottish National Party has backed a moratorium on new developments; so has the Greens. The boom has been immense, and so has the backlash. Today’s newsletter explains why. At First Edition, we’re keen on pushing the boundaries of frontier technologies (no luddites here), so today we’re trying something new: we’ve produced a video to accompany this newsletter, and you can watch more on the Guardian’s Instagram page. Let us know what you think by replying to this email. How’s that for innovation? Before you do, here are the headlines. Five big stories UK politics | Andy Burnham has blamed Brexit and Margaret Thatcher for a decade of low growth in the UK, arguing that Britain needs to be brutally honest about having taken “a series of wrong turns” in the last 40 years. Nepal-Tibet | A week on from the flash flooding disaster, authorities are urging relatives of the thousands of missing and dead to provide blood samples. Middle East | The US has launched new airstrikes on Iranian targets, prompting counter strikes by Tehran targeting American interests in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, fuelling concerns about a ⁠wider renewal of hostilities. Ukraine | Russia has opened a deadly new phase in its war against Ukraine by deliberately targeting the country’s railway network, with six employees killed on Tuesday in the latest strikes on Kyiv. US news | Mark Carney has rebuked Donald Trump’s administration and urged officials in Washington to “start being serious” amid escalation trade tensions between the US and Canada. In depth: ‘We’re in an extremely anti-democratic moment with AI’ In August I attended a meeting of campaigners and councillors in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets, where the government has recently approved plans for a 5,200 sq metre datacentre on the site of an old brewery off Brick Lane. The meeting, held on a sunny Monday evening, went on for three hours, in a stifling hall so packed that organisers had to create an overflow room. It’s a testament to how divisive the subject has become. The new east London datacentre won’t be anywhere near as large as the “hyperscale” datacentres that power AI, which are typically 10,000 square feet or more. Neither is it the first to be built in the area (there are already three similarly sized developments nearby). But attenders I spoke with shared the same concerns as other campaign groups globally. They worried about the amount of energy the building will consume (5.2MW, according to a local campaign group, which is enough to power 15,000 homes), about its use of water (projections for this haven’t been released), and about the noise and heat it could emit. They have good reasons to be concerned. The IMF estimates that by 2030, datacentres will consume more energy than all but the world’s three largest state emitters (China, India and the United States). They are already driving up electricity prices: one analysis found that wholesale electricity prices rose 267% over five years in locations near datacentres in Virginia. And although the industry argues that technology in newer AI datacentres consume less water than older facilities, not even the Environment Agency knows how much water datacentres use. It’s one of many unknowns. Much of the anger here centres on how it’s been approved. Despite fierce opposition from local residents and Tower Hamlets council, which wants the site to be used for hundreds of homes, housing secretary Angela Rayner intervened, overruling the council to approve the application, citing its creation of 44 homes (only six of which will be socially rented) as a “significant” public benefit. “When you have Andy Burnham talking about devolution and democracy, this feels like a slap in the face,” Henna Khanom, a Tower Hamlets resident, told me. “To me, it feels like many of these are springing up in places where low-income, ethnic minority communities just don’t have the power to resist these changes.” This reflects a feature common to many of these battles: locals feel that datacentres are being forced on them against their will, with very little transparency or democratic oversight. *** How many datacentres exist? Globally, the number of “hyperscale” datacentres has nearly tripled since 2018. The UK had 52 datacentres in 2000, and today there are an estimated 520, roughly 48 of which are “hyperscale”, though it’s impossible to get exact figures, since nobody (not even the government) knows the total number that have been built. In the US, where local governments have signed NDAs with tech companies, information is shielded from scrutiny. In the EU, Microsoft and other American tech companies successfully lobbied to conceal the environmental impact of their developments. Secrecy is power, particularly when your industry devours massive amounts of energy, much of it powered by fossil fuels. Because developers can wait years for an electricity grid connection, many are now opting to build their own gas-fired power plants instead. In the UK, more than 100 datacentres intend to burn gas to generate their electricity. It’s possible that some may do this permanently. These are reasons you might expect more scrutiny of these developments, not less. “We’re in an extremely anti-democratic moment with AI,” the Guardian’s tech correspondent Aisha Down tells me. It’s no wonder, then, that so many protests are kicking off. Several weeks ago, police in Scotland warned one developer that public anger over these buildings was so great it now poses a security risk. *** Why does the government want more of them? The Starmer government tended to proselytise about the benefits of big tech. In documents outlining the UK’s AI strategy last year, it argued that datacentres were “the engines of the AI age”, and set out its plans to accelerate construction. So far, Burnham’s government seems to agree: last week, he rejected the Green party’s proposal for a moratorium on new developments, arguing this would “send investment and good jobs abroad”. Since the start of this year, the government has allowed datacentres to opt into Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPS), where the secretary of state rather than local councils make planning decisions, enabling developers to bypass local scrutiny. Two of the first datacentres to opt into the NSIPs scheme are applying to build new private gas power stations to fire up their operations, which will together be responsible for more than 4.5m tonnes of carbon emissions. “Most people don’t want diesel generators running constantly near where they live,” Aisha says. “That sort of thing is upsetting to communities.” *** What are they good for? With all the recent attention on datacentres, it’s worth noting many have existed for years, quietly whirring away and processing information you need to send emails or read newsletters like this one. Clearly, we need some datacentres. The question is whether we need the “hyperscale” variety. There has been lots of noise among policymakers about the UK being an “AI maker, not an AI taker” that can’t afford to be left behind in the AI “race” or lose its AI “sovereignty.” But nobody seems to agree on exactly how datacentres achieves these vague aims. Will they rejuvenate post-industrial areas with shiny new jobs? Probably not. Will they help the UK “shape the AI revolution”? It’s hard to see precisely how, when US tech companies building many of the datacentres on UK soil retain control over infrastructure, IP and profits. “People in the highest echelons of power seem to be making policy based on AI Fomo and vibes,” Aisha says. We’ll return to this vibes-based strategy and the risky financing of the AI boom in future newsletters. For now, it’s clear these fights reflect a feeling that datacentres are something done to communities, regardless of whether they consent. The Burnham government hopes to reignite people’s faith in democracy by giving them more control. The battle over datacentres will be a major test of that commitment. What else we’ve been enjoying Having written about the True Love Waits Christian purity campaign in the 90s, I wasn’t overjoyed to see its latest iteration in Girls Gone Bible. Alaina Demopoulos explains why it makes sense for so many Gen Z women. Libby I spent a childhood summer in France convinced I could communicate (via hee-haws) with the donkey in a nearby field. Decades on, I feel vindicated by this episode of Science Weekly on human/whale interspecies dialogue. Michael If the notion of an on-demand scotch egg excites you as much as it does me, Joanna Partridge has written about farmers using vending machines to bring fresh milk and local produce to rural locations that lack nearby shops. Libby After learning yesterday about the US non-profit Leaving Maga which helps people step away from the far-right, I found these reflections from four former Trump voters to be particularly thoughtful. Michael As a former Scotland correspondent, I was interested to read First Edition alumnus Patrick Greenfield on how the SNP is setting up yet more constitutional fisticuffs with the UK government over supermarket price capping. Libby Sport Football | Manchester City have equalled the British transfer record with a £125m deal to sign midfielder Enzo Fernández from Chelsea. Tennis | The Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery lost 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to Lorenzo Musetti while Elena Rybakina sailed into the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 success. Cricket | Maia Bouchier hit 104 to power England to victory in the first ODI against Ireland, as they won by six wickets in Leicester. The front pages “Brexit and Thatcher to blame for UK’s era of low growth, says PM”, is the Guardian’s front page headline today, while the Times has “Burnham lays blame on Brexit for UK’s woes”, the Mail writes “Britain’s problems? I blame Thatcher and Brexit, says Burnham”, and the Telegraph says “Markets turn on Burnham”. The i Paper leads with “Burnham pushes welfare cuts into 2027 – as he plans bolder devolution”, the Express says “Kemi: New PM wants to take us back to 70s” and Metro’s take is “historic battle”. Elsewhere, the FT splashes “Russia secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles”, and the Mirror writes “A fresh start versus Farage farce”. The Latest British activist abducted by West Bank settlers deported by Israel A British activist who was forcibly abducted by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has been deported to the UK. The treatment of 22-year-old Finn Joughin comes after a surge of settler violence against Palestinian people in the West Bank that has been widely condemned internationally and also by many prominent figures within Israel. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison – watch on YouTube Cartoon of the day | Ella Baron The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad From Waxahatchee and Ratboys in the US to Westside Cowboy and Little Grandad in the UK, Michael Hann sat down with some of the bands bringing new life – and new audiences – to country music. “I think there’s a genuine desire among young people,” Ratboys singer Julia Steiner tells him, “to embrace earnest storytelling and our humanity, in the face of this monolith of corporate suits drooling over AI and the internet and trying to tell us what’s cool.” Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

‘I want to live’: the disabled people unable to go abroad because of care funding refusal

Disabled people are being blocked from travelling abroad by NHS care boards and local councils that refuse to let them use their care funding outside the UK, the Guardian has learned. Campaigners warn of a “postcode lottery” in England where the right of a disabled person to travel overseas depends on where they live or the whim of local officials – even when there is no extra cost to the taxpayer. Disabled care users report having to abandon travel plans at the last minute, or go for years without a break, when authorities refuse to pay for their care abroad, even though they have agreed to meet all the travel expenses. The Guardian is aware of instances where individuals have had requests for care and support for overseas travel turned down by NHS officials – only to have the decision reversed when they threatened legal action. Lucy Robinson, 38, told the Guardian she had been prevented from attending international work events and going on a holiday because health officials in Oxfordshire had refused to allow her to use her care package abroad. Robinson, who is quadriplegic and has a team of 24-hour personal assistants, is often required to travel in her role as the president of the European Spinal Cord Injury Federation. She has received NHS support for some trips. She said the experience had caused huge stress: “Travel is one of the things that defines my life, in terms of most of the work I do, but also because I like travelling. My quality of life is based around that. I want to live, not just to exist.” The cases have led to calls for national guidance amid concerns there are no clear or consistent NHS or council-wide rules clarifying the right of disabled people to take their carers abroad. Their care packages typically provide them with personal assistants for help with dressing, movement and night support. Campaigners have emphasised this is not about “holidays on the NHS”. There is no extra cost for the health service or local authorities, which are already paying for the care. In almost all cases, the care recipient is expected to pay for their assistant’s expenses and arrange their insurance. “Refusing to pay for care and support abroad does not deliver any financial savings for the taxpayer,” said Carol Barraclough, the advocacy and support manager at the Spinal Injuries Association. “We’d like to see national guidance on this that is effective and clear on the rights of all disabled people to take their carers outside the UK.” Robinson said the Thames Valley NHS integrated care board (ICB) told her in April it had rejected her care request to attend a conference in Germany because “NHS funding responsibilities cease at the UK border”. As a result, she was forced to abandon planned work events in Norway and Albania. She was able to go to Germany only because her 69-year-old mother stepped in as her 24/7 carer. The care board made a rapid U-turn in June when Robinson threatened the health board with legal action, arguing it was acting unlawfully. It then agreed to fund her care overseas on condition she dropped plans for a judicial review. Analysis by the Guardian shows a wide variety of policies across councils and the NHS. Some are explicit that overseas care is possible, while some agree in principle but attach a string of conditions. Others say overseas travel is allowed only at the discretion of their officials. “There’s a postcode lottery in NHS care and support policy to allow recipients of funding to take their assistants with them outside the UK,” said Barraclough, who added she was aware of several cases where disabled individuals had been turned down for care abroad. Giselle Hoad, the founder of the Adult Social Care Warriors campaign group, said: “There’s a concern that cultural prejudice about disability – that we don’t have families, partners, or jobs – means the care system sometimes assumes disabled people should be satisfied with opportunities closer to home.” Disabled people in England can get care funding through two main sources: NHS continuing healthcare, which provides support for daily living for people with the highest needs, and social care paid for by local councils. Anne-Marie Irwin, a solicitor at Rook Irwin Sweeney who represented Robinson, said NHS care boards had a legal duty to meet a disabled person’s assessed needs. As long as the care user remains a resident of the ICB’s area this duty does not stop if they temporarily leave the UK. Thames Valley said it did not comment on individual cases. It added that where a patient requested temporary travel abroad an ICB “may consider if it’s appropriate to continue commissioning care to meet their assessed health needs while they are outside the country”. It said its decisions were informed by considerations of patient safety, practical care delivery factors and risk assessment and insurance issues. Local authorities hold a similar duty to ICBs, previous court judgments suggest. Chelsea Pettitt, 25, and her parents, have been in dispute with Lancashire council over her entitlement to care on holiday. Chelsea, who has cerebral palsy, quadriplegia and learning difficulties, wants to return to Spain where she had a week-long break in 2022 accompanied by two assistants. Like other twentysomethings, she loved the sun, the swimming, food and culture. “I felt like I belonged there,” she said. But her parents, Barbara and Alison Pettitt, said they were told by a social worker that she was no longer eligible for care abroad as she now lived in supported accommodation. Her care plan specifies two-to-one care for seven nights a year for trips outside Lancashire – but the council stipulates the care must be used by Chelsea to “maintain … important relationships” with her birth family and friends. A lack of national guidelines means the family is unsure where this leaves Chelsea’s right to choose whether – or where – to travel. All Chelsea can do is savour her memories of Spain. “She had an absolute blast,” said Barbara, “and she’d like to do it again.” The council said it did not object in principle to Chelsea using her care package on a holiday abroad and it was “working closely with the individual, their family and care provider to understand the issues that have been raised and support a positive resolution”. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government is committed to making sure all those who are eligible for NHS continuing healthcare receive the support they need to live independent and fulfilling lives. “Integrated care boards are responsible for planning a package of care that meets each individual’s needs. We expect them to fulfil this duty in line with national policy and legislation.” Additional research by George Francis Lee

British man deported from Sweden despite living there since childhood

A 34-year-old British man who has lived in Sweden since he was 10 has been deported in the latest of a series of Brexit-induced catastrophes for UK citizens in the country. John Sellers was told to leave despite living in Sweden for 24 years, having been educated in the country and newly married to his Swedish partner, Caroline. “It is time people know how people are being treated here, and it is time to show what Brexit has caused,” he said, as he described his near seven-year struggle to remain in the country. “Quite frankly, we have been holding our tongues too long. I am very well aware that different countries have different rules on immigration, but none of this would have happened were it not for Brexit,” he said. His parents moved to Sweden from Essex under the free movement rights that came with the UK’s membership of the EU because they liked the education system and thought it was a “good place to bring up children”. His father died when he was 16, and his mother moved back to England after he started a college course to become a teacher. He was deported in January after three failed attempts to remain in the country and is still fighting to return to Gothenburg, where he was hoping to build a family with his new wife. “Whenever I come to England, I feel like a tourist. Sweden is my home,” Sellers said. “It is horrible. Not only do I feel like I’ve let down Caroline, I’ve let down my family, let down myself. I’ve been ripped from the love of my life, my other half. “The pain is … I wish people wouldn’t have to go through this kind of pain, because you’re not whole. You’re broken.” Hit with the cost of fighting deportation, and lack of work due to the deportation, he said he does not know how long it will be before he can physically hold his wife in his arms again. Caroline, who has chronic conditions including fibromyalgia and symptoms of long Covid, including chronic fatigue, is trying to get back on her feet to return to teaching, but the case has caused a huge level of stress and upset. She said: “It’s just horrible – the feeling of finally having someone to help you with things, someone to lean on and someone who is always there for you and then having to spend so much time, effort and money on fighting the government just to be able to continue that relationship. “There are so many things we want to do. We just want to spend our lives together, and it’s so hard having to fight for that, especially when I am not well to begin with.” Sweden’s migration minister, Johan Forssell, is poised to respond to Swedish MP Håkan Svenneling’s demand for a review of the approach to British residents in the country post-Brexit. Svenneling intervened last month after it emerged one of his constituents, 78-year-old widow Joyce Thomas, who has been in the country for 21 years, was told to leave. Thomas has until 7 September to leave, but her friends and supporters are pleading with Forssell to freeze removals and review a policy critics have said is not consistent with the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Another elderly British citizen, George Mason, who is in full-time dementia care, was told to leave the country in August but has won a stay of execution until 28 September while the migration authorities consider the “obstacles to enforcement”, his son said. The Guardian is aware of another British man detained by police on Tuesday and told he will be deported. Caroline Sellers said she and John decided to go to the media because it was important for politicians and officials in Brussels to see how Sweden’s interpretation of Brexit was “crushing people, crushing families” rather than protecting them, as politicians promised. Eurostat data shows that Sweden has the highest number of Brexit-related deportations of Britons of all EU member states. About 2,500 British nationals have been ordered to leave the country since Brexit, one-third of the entire number of removal orders issued across the 27-member bloc since Brexit in 2021. The problem centres on the Migration Agency’s apparent refusal to allow late applications from people who were not aware they had to formally apply to remain post-Brexit – a process used in only 12 other EU countries. Before, Brexit deportation of an EU national to another member state was only permitted in exceptional circumstances involving threats to national security. But in the post-Brexit scenario in Sweden, deportations of Britons have been ordered even when no crime is involved. The UK Foreign Office has expressed concern on multiple occasions about Sweden’s approach to late applications. It is understood that senior officials at the European Commission are also watching with interest. David Milstead, an activist with the Brits in Sweden group, wrote in the Guardian last month that complaints about the Swedish approach had first been made years ago. Part of the problem, he says, stems from the lack of communication to registered British people living in the country, causing missed deadline applications. He said the Sellers’ case was “yet another example of systemic failings in Sweden’s implementation of the withdrawal agreement”. He added: “There are welcome signs that the Swedish government is taking these problems more seriously, although it is too early to know what will follow. Any remedial action needs to come soon, because people are suffering now.” Sellers was aware that Brexit might affect his right to stay in the country and, without any communication from government authorities, he considered his best option was to apply for Swedish citizenship. This he did in September 2021, before the Brexit deadline of 31 December that year. Not only was his citizenship rejected, but two subsequent attempts to remain in the country under family rights in national migration laws via his partner, now his wife, were also turned down. The latest adjudication, after he appealed against the first decision to refuse him residency on the grounds of a family relationship with Caroline, whom he had yet to marry, was that they had “not lived together abroad for an extended period of time”. The migration court had noted that other evidence of a durable relationship was “insufficient”. The Sellers are now appealing for a review of the judgment with fresh evidence.