Thousands of civil servants are to be moved out of London under plans to save money and shift government jobs to offices across the country.

The government is aiming to cut the number of roles in London by 12,000 and close 11 offices in the capital to save £94m a year by 2032.

The changes will see two new government campuses opened in Manchester and Aberdeen, and roles created in other towns and cities.

Unions welcomed proposals to relocate officials but said they wanted more details on how civil servants would be impacted.

Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said the government wanted to move decision-making “closer to communities all across the UK”.

He said: “By relocating thousands of civil service roles we will not only save taxpayers money, we will make this government one that better reflects the country it serves.”

Speaking to BBC 5 Live, McFadden said he wanted to embrace new technology allowing meetings to take place online, but that this would not mean civil servants would be remote working all the time.

“The same rule will apply wherever people are working in terms of the working from home question, which is we expect people to be in at least 60% of the time,” he said, adding, “people don’t all have to be in the same place anymore”.

McFadden added he wanted to create “a civil service that speaks with all the accents of the country, not just one” and allows career progression outside London.

Shadow Conservative Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said the plans showed Labour was “fundamentally unserious about reducing the size of the state and working more efficiently on behalf of taxpayers”.

He accused Labour of “shuffling things around and making empty promises”.

“Only the Conservatives are serious about reducing the size of the state and making it work more efficiently for British taxpayers,” he said.

Government departments are being asked to submit their plans for relocating staff, including senior civil servants, as part of a spending review.

A government source told the BBC the exact number of civil servants relocated will be determined by the spending review, which is due to be completed in June.

The Labour government has set out a number of reforms to shrink the size of the civil service, which ministers believe is bloated and inefficient.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised to reduce government running costs by 15% by the end of the decade, and the Cabinet Office is looking to cut 2,100 jobs in its department over the next two years.

The number of civil service staff has increased considerably since 2016, with the headcount topping 514,000 at the end of last year, according to the Institute for Government.

Last year, a government source told the BBC more than 10,000 civil servants jobs could be cut as part of Labour’s push for savings across all departments.

On Wednesday, the government will outline plans to locate 50% of UK-based senior civil servants in regional offices by 2030.

The government wants to create three new regional campuses, one in Manchester focused on digital innovation and AI and a second in Aberdeen focused on energy. The third location is yet to be announced.

Manchester is already home to major offices of the science and culture departments, while Aberdeen houses the new Great British Energy headquarters.

Other roles will be created in Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow, Darlington, Newcastle and Tyneside, Sheffield, Bristol, Edinburgh, Belfast and York, with the changes expected to bring £729m to the local economy by 2030.

Among the offices being closed in London is 102 Petty France, one of the largest government offices in the capital and home to around 7,000 civil servants in the Ministry of Justice, HM Courts and Tribunal Service, Crown Prosecution Service and the Government Legal Department.

The Government will also close 39 Victoria Street, which has been home to the Department of Health and Social Care since the end of 2017.

Prospect union general secretary Mike Clancy said hundreds of thousands of civil servants already work outside of London and welcomed plans to “empower” them.

But he added: “We have been here before with similar announcements, if this one is to be different, government needs to work closely with unions both on specific relocation plans and on the wider civil service reform agenda.”

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, said civil servants “need to be able to build careers for the longer-term across the UK, including in London where there will now be fewer opportunities”.

Penman said Wednesday’s announcement meant “uncertainty” for “civil servants working in offices whose closures have been announced today” and the FDA looked forward to seeing more detail.

Detectives have said there is a “very real chance” the killer of a young woman who was murdered in 1986 is still at large after a man wrongfully convicted of the frenzied sexual attack was freed.

Peter Sullivan spent the last 38 years behind bars for murdering 21-year-old Diane Sindall in Birkenhead, Merseyside, before he was acquitted at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday.

Now 68, Mr Sullivan was released from prison after judges heard a DNA profile pointing to an unknown attacker was found after new testing on semen samples preserved from the crime scene.

Merseyside Police said more than 260 men identified in the original investigation had been tested and eliminated as suspects.

The force’s head of investigations, Det Ch Supt Karen Jaundrill, said officers “had not met with any resistance” to DNA screening.

She has now appealed for people in the community to come forward if they can think of anyone whose “behaviour they were not happy with” at the time, admitting there was a “very real chance” the killer was still at large.

Miss Sindall was dragged into an alley and beaten to death on 2 August 1986 in an attack detectives described at the time as the worst they had ever been involved in.

Merseyside Police said it had immediately reopened Miss Sindall’s case after being told there was a new DNA profile in 2023, despite Mr Sullivan’s appeal still being in progress at the time.

Det Ch Supt Jaundrill said that while the DNA was the main focus of investigative efforts, her team will rely heavily on people who lived in Birkenhead at the time for answers.

“I’m really hopeful with the work that we are doing but we really are relying on the community, particularly Birkenhead, just to really think about the nature of that investigation at the time,” she said.

“Try and reflect on any individuals that you weren’t happy with at the time.

“It may be that somebody has passed away and you weren’t happy with their behaviour at the time and you think they were linked.

“My ask would be please contact us, regardless of how insignificant you think the information is, and let us judge where that fits into our investigation.”

Miss Sindall, who worked as a florist, had also been doing part-time bar work at the Wellington Pub in Bebington to save up for her upcoming wedding to her fiancé, David Beattie.

She began driving to her home in Seacombe in her blue Fiat van but seemingly ran out of petrol, and began walking to what police believe was either a bus stop or an all-night garage shortly after 00:00 BST.

Her semi-naked body was discovered partially concealed in an alleyway by a woman walking her dog at about 12:30 that day.

The victim had suffered severe injuries and her death was found to have been caused by repeated blows to the head.

Det Ch Supt Jaundrill said Miss Sindall’s family and fiancé were “fully supportive” of the new investigation and “very much want us” to find her real killer.

Asked about the chances of the young woman’s attacker still being on the streets nearly four decades later, she added: “There is a very real chance.

“That’s where I reiterate our dedicated team of investigators are working tirelessly.

“We’re exploiting every opportunity to try and identify who the person is in relation to that DNA sample, but it does come back to that point – we are reliant on the communities, particularly [in] Birkenhead, to provide information.”

The force has defended how it investigated the original case, and highlighted that the technology to extract a DNA profile from the semen samples recovered from Miss Sindall’s body was still many years away at the time of her murder.

It has also pointed to the fact that two other grounds of appeal, related to how Mr Sullivan was interrogated and the admissibility of bite mark evidence, were rejected by appeal court judges.

Det Ch Supt Jaundrill said: “Nobody at Merseyside Police underestimates the impact on Peter Sullivan and I am grateful that the outcome at court will allow him to go out and rebuild his life.

“Our focus remains on finding justice for Diane.”

Mr Sullivan’s solicitor Sarah Myatt said her client was a “private man” and wanted to be “left in peace” to rebuild his life.

Mr Sullivan, in a statement read to the media by Ms Myatt outside the Court of Appeal, said he was not “angry or bitter” and expressed his wish that the Sindall family get justice.

Ms Myatt, who has represented him for 20 years, said she had been “honoured” to read those words on his behalf.

“The comments he made about wanting the family to get a resolution, to find peace, that is a true reflection on the man that he is,” she said.

Another man who spent time in prison for a crime he did not commit, John Actie, said he could not understand why Mr Sullivan was not angry about everything he had gone through.

While on remand, Mr Actie was in jail for two years while accused of the murder of Lynette White in a Cardiff flat on 14 February 1988.

He was cleared at trial.

Three of his co-defendants were found guilty of her murder, but later had their convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal in a case that garnered national attention and became known as the Cardiff Five in the media.

Mr Actie told BBC Radio Wales: “It just made my stomach go over. It could have happened to us, we could have been in jail for a lot longer.

“Fortunately we were lucky and we got out because they came to the right decision.

“He’s not bitter? Well I’m bitter, and I spent two years in jail. I have nightmares about it still.

“He’s got to start his life again now, at 68. It’s absolutely terrible.

“I’m flabbergasted that he’s not angry with what’s happened to him – I just can’t believe that he’s not angry. I’m choking up thinking about it.”

In 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents by shooting them multiple times at close range at their mansion in Beverly Hills.

They were found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder in 1996, and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

On Tuesday, a Los Angeles judge reduced their sentence, making them eligible for parole.

There has been renewed public interest in the case after a new Netflix drama, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, was released in September.

Last year, the previous district attorney of Los Angeles, George Gascón, requested a change to the brothers’ sentence from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life.

The hearing was put to Los Angeles County superior court Judge Michael Jesic on Tuesday who resentenced the brothers.

“I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years that they should get that chance,” he said, concluding a day-long hearing.

The brothers are eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law which allows individuals who committed crimes before the age of 26 to seek a reduced sentence.

The siblings were aged 18 and 21 at the time. They are now aged 54 and 57.

During the hearing, family members and a former fellow inmate were among those who testified in support of the resentencing.

People who worked with the brothers in prison spoke about the educational courses they had completed and how they created a hospice initiative for the elderly and sick.

The district attorney’s office, which fiercely opposes a lower sentence, said the brothers have continued to “make excuses” for their conduct instead of taking full responsibility and were not rehabilitated.

The brothers spoke to the court via video and apologised for their actions.

They also spoke about their hopes of working with sex abuse victims and helping those incarcerated if they were given a second chance outside prison.

The California parole board will now decide whether to release the brothers from prison.

Separately, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is considering a request from the brothers for clemency. If approved, it could lead to a reduced sentence or a pardon.

Governor Newsom requested that the parole board conduct a risk assessment that examines whether the brothers pose a risk to the general public if released.

The full report has not been released, but the district attorney said it indicated a “moderate risk of violence”.

The parole board hearing on the clemency petition is set to take place on 13 June.

It is unclear whether the board will also consider the possibility of parole based on Judge Jesic’s resentencing at the same hearing.

Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, on 20 August 1989 at their home in Beverly Hills.

Their father, a 45-year-old Hollywood executive, was shot six times with a shotgun the brothers had purchased days before the attack.

Their mother died after suffering 10 shotgun blasts to several parts of her body.

The brothers initially told police they found their parents dead when they arrived home.

They were arrested after the girlfriend of a psychologist that had been treating Erik Menendez went to police to say that he had physically threatened the doctor.

The brothers claimed they committed the murders in self defence after years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse, although no molestation was ever proven in court.

They said they feared their father would kill them after they threatened to expose him.

However, prosecutors argued that the young men had killed their successful parents to inherit their multi-million-dollar estate.

The brothers were taken into custody in 1990 and in 1993 they were tried for the murders, first individually, with one jury for each brother.

However, both juries were deadlocked in 1994, resulting in a mistrial, and the pair were later tried again together in 1995.

During their joint trial the judge excluded apparent evidence of abuse from their defence case. Taped sessions with a doctor, in which the killings were discussed, were ruled admissible in court by the judge.

A jury found them guilty and the pair were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder in 1996.

The brothers, who were separated during their detention after a detective who investigated the slayings said they may conspire to escape if housed together, reunited in jail in 2018.

The case was thrust back into the spotlight after Netflix released a drama series about the brothers in September.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, shot to the top of the platform’s streaming chart and was reported to have had 12.3 million views in its first weekend of release.

It explores what might have led the siblings to kill their parents and it presents the murders from different perspectives.

Its creators said the series was based on extensive research and it follows the events surrounding the murders.

It includes the brothers’ claims of abuse as well as showing things from the parents’ point of view.

The show introduced the case to a new generation and garnered attention from celebrities – including Kim Kardashian and Rosie O’Donnell – who called for the brothers to be released.

The series was a follow-up to the controversial first Monsters series about US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Following its release, Erik Menendez shared a statement, released on X by his wife.

He said the show was “disheartening slander” and he “believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle”.

“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward – back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women,” he added.

Members of the family also spoke out and said the brothers had been “victimised by this grotesque shockadrama,” and the show was “riddled with mistruths”.

Ryan Murphy, who created the show, told Variety that the comments were “predictable at best”.

He added that the family’s response was “interesting because I would like specifics about what they think is shocking or not shocking. It’s not like we’re making any of this stuff up. It’s all been presented before”.

Seven-year-old Archie York was killed in a blast in Newcastle caused by his neighbour’s illegal attempts to make cannabis sweets. As one of his killers is jailed, Archie’s mother says her son’s death should serve as a warning to other criminals.

Shortly before 01:00 BST on 16 October, the slumbering streets of Benwell were rent by the roar of an enormous explosion.

Katherine Errington had been asleep in her bedroom with her seven-week-old son Finley, when the pair were suddenly bombarded with and buried beneath the walls and contents of their flat.

She initially thought she was having a nightmare, but the taste of blood in her mouth quickly confirmed this was all too real. The utter panic and confusion was replaced by a realisation she was trapped beneath the debris of her home.

She could hear her baby son crying but could not find him in the darkness and destruction – his cries soon gave way to a chilling silence.

“I closed my eyes,” Katherine recalls. “I thought ‘if my son’s gone, as in unalive, I’ll close my eyes and whatever happens I’ll not remember it, I’ll be asleep’.”

Then she heard the shouts of her partner Robbie, desperately searching for her and their baby, and she called back to him so he could zero in on her voice.

Katherine managed to push her foot through the bricks into the dust-filled air, Robbie seizing it gratefully and starting to frantically dig her out, also, miraculously, finding Finley alive and pulling him to safety.

“I got out and looked at where my flat was supposed to be,” she says. “There was nothing left of it.”

The street outside had rapidly filled with neighbours and emergency services, with Katherine and her baby quickly rushed away for medical treatment.

It was at the hospital where police officers told her the explosion had been even more devastating than she had imagined. Her eldest son, Archie, was “gone”.

The last time she had seen him, her “perfect little boy” and Robbie had been asleep on the living room settee.

Seven-year-old Archie had been the dictionary definition of a “mischievous cheeky boy”, his mum says. “He was just a normal, happy little boy.”

He loved superheroes, computer games and school, where “everybody loved him”, Katherine says.

Archie had been overjoyed at the arrival of Finley almost two months earlier, wanting to feed him and change his nappies, maturing overnight into a proper big brother.

“It was just how a family should be,” Katherine recalls. “It was the best seven weeks of my life.”

Within seconds, several houses on Violet Close were practically demolished and a huge fire was raging, with more than 100 people having to be evacuated from their homes.

Initial suspicions were that it was a gas leak, a faulty boiler somewhere, but investigators quickly honed in on the activities of Katherine and Robbie’s downstairs neighbour, 35-year-old Jason Laws, who was also killed in the blast, and his associate Reece Galbraith.

“The scene was hell for almost two months,” Det Ch Insp Katie Smith of Northumbria Police says, detailing the “harrowing” finger-tip searches officers had to make in the rubble in the days and weeks after the blast.

A suspiciously large number of butane cannisters were discovered scattered throughout the debris which, along with other industrial items such as a vacuum oven, indicated a factory making so-called shatter – a glassy-type substance used to form cannabis sweets – was operating in one of the flats.

The blast was caused by a build-up of the highly flammable butane, the gas used in the production process, which was taking place while the neighbours all slept peacefully nearby.

“The dangers go without saying,” Det Ch Insp Smith says. “[Galbraith and his associates] knew about the risks that night, it says on the side of the gas cannister how highly flammable it is.

“They disregarded that to make some money from drugs.

“It caused utter devastation.”

For Katherine, finding out her son had been killed because of the illegal activities of a criminal neighbour only worsened her grief.

“It sickens me that it could have been prevented,” she says. “You are supposed to trust your neighbours.

“This is more upsetting for us because someone chose to do that, it was their choice, not ours.”

The day she was burying her boy, 33-year-old Galbraith was in court denying being responsible for his death.

It was only later, when confronted with the wealth of prosecution evidence against him including DNA, finger prints and mobile phone data, that Galbraith changed his plea and admitted manslaughter.

His initial denials caused further pain and consternation for Katherine.

“He’s got no compassion whatsoever, no remorse for anything he has done,” she says.

She says her life now is indescribable, the shock and grief at the loss of Archie still all-consuming.

Katherine never would have thought the routine of kissing her son goodnight and laying out his school clothes for the next morning would be obliterated in such a violent manner.

But she is also keen to ensure he is remembered for being the “funny little cheeky boy” who “touched so many hearts” rather than for the way he was killed.

Katherine is also keen other criminals heed what happened.

“This should be enough to stop anyone trying to do any illegal activities,” she says.

“[Galbraith] has now got a seven-year-old’s death on his hands from his choice.”

Neither Katherine nor Robbie ever saw a future without Archie.

Their son was going to be a rock for Finley, but the baby is now an only child with no memory of the brother who doted on him.

“I don’t think we will ever move on from this,” Katherine says.

“That day is going to haunt us to the day we die.”

Luxury fashion firm Burberry has said it could cut some 1,700 jobs as part of plans to reduce costs by 2027.

The British designer brand – famed for its distinctive camel, red and black check pattern – announced the proposed savings on Wednesday as it reported a £66m loss in the last financial year.

The proposed job cuts would reduce its global workforce by almost a fifth and include potential redundancies at its Castleford factory in West Yorkshire.

Burberry chief executive Joshua Schulman said the majority of job losses would come from its head office teams around the world, but said the cuts would “naturally” be focused in the UK, where most of its staff are based.

He confirmed staff rotas would be reorganised and that night shifts at its factory in Castleford, which makes trench coats priced from £1,000 to £10,000 each, would be scrapped.

“For a long time we have had overcapacity at that facility, and that is simply not sustainable,” Mr Schulman said.

“But I want to be very clear that we are making this change to safeguard our UK manufacturing, and in fact we will be making a significant investment to renovate this factory in the second half.”

Burberry said it would align “schedules with peak store traffic” in its shops, which would result in the reduction of some jobs.

It added savings would also come from “operating expenses, with increased efficiency of spend in procurement and real estate”.

The company said the cuts were “subject to consultation where applicable”.

Burberry was founded in 1856 and has been making its famous raincoats in Yorkshire since 1972.

The designer brand previously announced £40m cost-savings programme in November, meaning it now plans to create the combined annualised savings of £100m by Spring 2027.

“The continued resilience of our outerwear and scarf categories reaffirms my belief that we have the most opportunity where we have the most authenticity,” said Mr Schulman, who was appointed chief executive in July last year.

“While we are operating against a difficult macroeconomic backdrop and are still in the early stages of our turnaround, I am more optimistic than ever that Burberry’s best days are ahead,” he added.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell said Burberry’s plans were “some pretty radical steps in its continuing recovery effort”.

He said Mr Schulman, who was the former boss of Coach and Jimmy Choo, was “pulling the classic turnaround lever of cutting costs, including a drastic planned reduction in the firm’s headcount”.

“A strategy of trying to compete with higher-end rivals hasn’t worked out so it makes sense that under Schulman the company is returning to its historic strengths in classic outerwear products like trench coats and scarves,” he added.

Mr Schulman replaced former Burberry chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd after the brand saw plunging sales.

Mr Akeroyd had attempted to move Burberry more upmarket.

Once Mr Akeroyd left, chairman Gerry Murphy said Burberry would take “decisive action to rebalance our offer to be more familiar to Burberry’s core customers whilst delivering relevant newness”.

Burberry’s sales have been struggling amid weaker demand for luxury goods in general, with trading in China and the Americas seeing some of the biggest falls last year.

Rupert Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, will not face criminal charges in relation to an allegation of threats, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

Lowe was elected as a Reform UK MP in last year’s general election but was suspended by the party in March, amid claims of threats towards the party’s chairman, Zia Yusuf.

Malcolm McHaffie, head of the CPS, said it made the decision not to press charges “following a thorough and detailed review of the evidence”.

“Having considered a number of witness statements, we have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction,” he said.

In a statement on X, Lowe said the Metropolitan Police were dropping their investigation into “false allegations” and accused Reform of carrying out a “brutal smear campaign”.

“For the sin of asking legitimate questions about the party’s direction, policies and leadership, I was vilified and targeted,” he said.

Lowe, who now sits as an independent MP, also fiercely attacked his former party’s leader Nigel Farage, calling him a “a coward and a viper”.

Although the CPS statement does not name Lowe, the case relates to an incident at the Palace of Westminster in December 2024.

Mr McHaffie said: “The Crown Prosecution Service’s function is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent, and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges for a criminal court to consider.

“Based on the careful consideration of this evidence, we have decided that our legal test for a criminal prosecution has not been met.

“The decision is also subject to the Victim’s Right to Review (VRR) scheme which provides a victim or their families in some classes of case with a specifically designed process to exercise the right to review certain CPS decisions not to start a prosecution or to stop a prosecution.”

Reform reported Lowe to the police on 6 March over claims of threats of physical violence directed towards Yusuf.

The party also hired a lawyer to investigate allegations of workplace bullying in his office made by two female employees.

Lowe denied wrongdoing and said the claims were retaliation after he criticised Farage in an interview with the Daily Mail, describing his then-leader’s style as “messianic”.

In her report, the lawyer Jacqueline Perry KC, concluded there was “credible evidence” Lowe and his staff had mistreated two female team members in ways that “seem to amount to harassment”.

She also said Lowe had failed to “address the alleged toxic conduct” of male colleagues in the office.

Responding to her report, Lowe said the claims were “outright lies” and labelled the process “disgustingly bias”.

Reform expelled Lowe from the party, having previously suspended him.

One of the women involved has also made a formal complaint to the Parliamentary Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

New rules making migrants wait longer to qualify for permanent settlement in the UK will apply to people already in the country, under government plans.

On Monday the government announced immigrants would now typically have to live in the UK for 10 years before applying for the right to stay here indefinitely – double the current five-year period.

It was previously unclear whether this would apply to the approximately 1.5 million foreign workers who have moved to the UK since 2020.

The BBC understands a document published in the coming weeks will make clear the government is preparing to apply the 10-year qualifying period to those who are already in the UK as well as to new visa applicants.

The move will be subject to a public consultation.

A government source said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had for some time been concerned that under the current five-year process there is set to be a significant increase in settlement and citizenship applications in the next few years, reflecting the surge in immigration in the early years of this decade.

A policy document published on Monday said there would continue to be a five-year qualification period for non-UK dependents of British citizens.

There will also be shorter qualification periods for people who can show they have contributed to the UK’s “economy and society”.

The announcement was part of a wider package of measures set out on Monday to cut legal migration.

Net migration – the number of people coming to the UK minus the number leaving – climbed to a record 906,000 in June 2023, and last year it stood at 728,000.

In a speech on Monday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the measures would mean “settlement becomes a privilege that is earned, not a right, easier if you make a contribution, if you work, pay in, and help rebuild our country.”

Some Labour MPs have raised concerns about the possibility longer qualifying periods for settlement could apply to people already in the UK.

Florence Eshalomi, who chairs the Commons housing, communities and local government committee, told MPs the lack of clarity had left some of her constituents “understandably worried”, with one telling her they were considering leaving the UK “because their settled status here is in jeopardy”.

In response, Cooper told MPs the government would set out further details later this year, with a consultation to follow.

Isa, who came to the UK three years ago with his wife, said the change felt like “fraud” and “a betrayal”.

“We had other options as well – we came here with the promise of settlement status here,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“We need to stay two more years under current rules [to be eligible for permanent settlement].

“This was our plan for life here. And now everything has changed.

“I’m now thinking about moving to the US. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love living here. I was feeling welcome when I came here at first and it’s the first moment that I feel like I’m completely unwelcome.”

Both Isa and his wife work for a tech company, with his wife on a skilled worker visa, while he came to the UK as her dependent.

He suggested the change could see some international companies that rely on foreign workers closing their UK branches.

The 35-year-old added: “I think it has consequences for the high-talent coming here. They’re not sure if the rules are going to change.”

The Migration Observatory said a 10-year route to settlement would make the UK more restrictive than most other high-income countries but comparable to Switzerland and Japan.

It said the move was unlikely to significantly affect migration levels but it would bring in more visa-fee revenue for the Home Office because people on temporary visas pay ongoing fees.

Migrants would also face longer periods without the rights that come with permanent settlement, which include the right to live, work and study in the UK for as long as desired, and to apply for benefits.

Permanent settlement can also be used to apply for British citizenship.

Enny Choudhury, co-legal director at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants charity, said the move was “a cruel betrayal”.

“These are our neighbours and friends. They’ve already built their lives in the UK, and moving the goalposts now will plunge many into deeper debt, uncertainty and trauma,” he said.

“We need a system that offers people a clear, affordable and compassionate pathway to settlement.”

A man whose illegal cannabis factory exploded in a block of flats, killing seven-year-old Archie York, has been jailed for 14 years.

Archie died when the blast caused by Reece Galbraith, 33, obliterated several homes in Benwell in the early hours of 16 October 2024, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The fatal explosion was caused by a build-up of butane created in the process of making drug-infused sweets in one of the flats by Jason Laws, 35, who was also killed, and Galbraith.

Galbraith, of Gateshead, admitted two counts of manslaughter, with Archie’s mother screaming at him in court that he had killed her son.

Mr Laws and Galbraith were using a ground-floor flat in the block of 12 homes on Violet Close to make so-called cannabis shatter, prosecutor David Brooke KC said.

At about 00:40 BST, their “sophisticated” factory exploded, killing Archie, who lived upstairs with his parents and baby brother, and totally destroying six homes, the court heard.

Archie’s mother Katherine Errington and seven-week-old brother Finlay were buried beneath bricks and debris, the pair having to be dug out and pulled to safety by his father Robbie York, the court heard.

There was then a “fierce fire” and the block ultimately had to be demolished, with dozens of people losing their homes and treasured possessions, Mr Brooke said.

Archie had been asleep in his living room when the blast occurred and was killed instantly, while his father Mr York, mother Katherine Errington and seven-week-old brother Finley all “miraculously” survived, the court heard.

Mr Brooke said there had also been an “enormous impact” on the local area, with the damage and costs to Newcastle City Council valued at £3.7m, 81 adults and 59 children from 51 homes displaced and 10 households having to be permanently rehoused.

Ms Errington told the court her son’s death had “broken us in ways I didn’t know possible” and the family had “lost everything”, adding she felt “survivor’s guilt”.

In a fury, she angrily told Galbraith he “took risks for profit” before screaming at him: “You killed my son.”

“This was your choice,” Ms Errington said. “We will never forgive you for what you did to our beautiful boy.”

The court heard Archie’s beloved dog Chase had also been killed in the blast.

In a statement read to the court, Mr York said he felt “nothing but anger” towards Galbraith and Mr Laws, adding he had “no sympathy” for the latter’s death.

“They were making drugs whilst my family slept upstairs unaware of the danger that was below us,” Mr York said.

He said Galbraith and Mr Laws’ illegal operation had put multiple children at risk while their own children slept safely elsewhere, adding: “We worked hard for what we had and they did nothing but inflict pain and misery on others.”

Another neighbour, who had lost her home of 18 years, said the men were horrible, selfish and greedy.

One woman said her seven-month-old daughter had been blown across her bedroom and was found beneath a pile of drawers and bricks, with the woman fearing the girl would need medical treatment for the rest of her life.

Police found dozens of cannisters of liquid butane gas and expensive equipment used to make cannabis shatter, a brittle substance containing a high concentration of the psychoactive compound THC which is used to form sweets from in the debris, the court heard.

Mr Brooke said butane was used in the production process but it was “highly dangerous” and “extremely flammable”.

He said the cannisters clearly displayed multiple vivid warnings which Mr Laws and Galbraith had ignored.

Galbraith, of Rectory Road, had also been in the flat and was found in the wreckage covered in severe burns, going on to spend a month in a coma in hospital.

His finger prints were found on some of the butane cannisters and on packages of cannabis sweets discovered in Mr Laws’ car, Mr Brooke said, with evidence from his phones showing he had been selling cannabis sweets for at least 11 months before the blast.

Galbraith, who also admitted producing and selling cannabis, had previous convictions related to the drug and was under police investigation at the time of the blast, the court heard.

In mitigation, Richard Wright KC said Galbraith had not intended to harm or kill anybody and was “genuinely sorry”.

Mr Justice Cotter said Archie was a “healthy, happy and much-loved seven-year-old” with a “wonderful and exciting life ahead of him”.

The judge said the effect of the “tragedy” would “never diminish for his parents” and there was nothing which could ease their “life sentence of grief”, adding: “No sentence can cure their unimaginable pain, grief and loss.”

The operation run by Mr Laws and Galbraith was “not easy” and required extensive knowledge and research, much of which included explicit warnings about the “inherently dangerous” process of using butane, the judge said.

He said it was miraculous more people were not seriously injured or killed.