UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has urged UK businesses to train local people while the CBI head wants more migrant workers boost economy growth.

British main opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer warned business bosses on Tuesday "the days of low pay and cheap labour" must end, putting him in line with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has also rejected calls for looser immigration rules.

The UK has forecast its economy to shrink 1.4 percent next year, hit additionally by fallout from Brexit which has resulted in foreign workers returning home.

The number of migrants crossing the Channel from France to England has soared over the last five years from almost none to 42,000 this year.

The United Kingdom faced a barrage of questions and criticism of its migration and poverty policies in a United Nations review of its human rights record on Thursday amid allegations that it is backsliding on freedoms.

The number of people who have dropped out of Britain's job market since 2019 and who now cite a long-term illness or mental health problems has risen by half a million or about 25%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Migrant rescue group SOS Mediterranee said Thursday that it had called on the governments of France, Greece and Spain to help find a port for 234 people rescued while trying to reach Europe, after Italy and Malta failed to respond.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has landed herself in another controversy by revealing her plans for child refugees to undergo X-rays to verify their age.

Albania's prime minister accused Britain on Wednesday of using his country's citizens as scapegoats for its failed immigration policies after derogatory comments by British ministers about a rise in the number of Albanian asylum-seekers.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has come under fire for her derogatory remarks on migrants.

Homemade incendiary devices were thrown at the Western Jet Foil Border Force centre in Dover on Sunday, leaving two staff with minor injuries.

A British cabinet minister on Tuesday vowed "more radical" policies to counter illegal migration as record numbers make the treacherous crossing of the Channel in small boats.

The European Union signed an agreement with Egypt on Sunday for the first phase of an 80 million-euro border management programme, a statement from the EU delegation in Cairo said, at a time when Egyptian migration to Europe has been rising.

Rishi Sunak unveiled his top team of ministers on Wednesday, hours after taking office as Britain's first prime minister of colour vowing stability.

British finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng refused to say on Thursday if he would stick with his plan not to raise business taxes as media reported Prime Minister Liz Truss was rethinking an economic programme that plunged markets into turmoil.

Britain's new government said on Wednesday it would not reverse its vast tax cuts or reduce public spending as it sought to stand firm in the face of yet more turmoil in financial markets and concerns over its change in economic policy.

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The European Commission wants to see more action from Hungary on stepping up anti-corruption safeguards before Brussels agrees to unlock EU funds, EU sources said.

The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss has selected a cabinet where for the first time a white man will not hold one of the country's four most important ministerial positions.

When President Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law suddenly quit as finance minister in late 2020, four staff in Turkey's leading newsrooms said they received a clear direction from their managers: don't report this until the government says so.

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Around 11 billion tons of goods are shipped globally each year, amounting to about 1.5 tons per person.

British citizens planning to holiday in countries like Greece, Croatia, Italy, Spain, France and Portugal will have to shell out more money than usual.

Britain recorded its biggest rise in foreign workers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year to June, driven overwhelmingly by workers from outside the European Union, official figures showed on Tuesday.