Home Department

I am pleased to launch a consultation on extending licensing hours in England and Wales for the semi-finals and final of the 2025 UEFA women’s European championship this summer, contingent on either the England or Wales women’s national football teams playing in the semi-finals, and if any of the aforementioned teams subsequently reach the final of that tournament. The consultation is aimed at members of the public, local licensing authorities, licensed premises and other interested parties in England and Wales where these proposals apply.

Depending on the outcome of the consultation, the Government propose to make a licensing hours order under section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003, which would contingently extend opening hours on the days of the semi-finals, on 22 and/or 23 July 2025, and the final, on 27 July 2025, so that they would end at 1 am—i.e. early in the morning after the matches have taken place, rather than 11 pm on the day of the matches—for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises.

The extension would ensure that those wishing to host a viewing of the matches and potential post-match celebrations are able to do so, which would also provide a welcome boost to pubs and other on-trade businesses.

The extension would be contingent on the England and/or Wales national football teams reaching those stages of the championship and would not take effect should neither of these teams reach those stages of the tournament.

I am seeking to use a contingent order to extend licensing hours for the semi-finals and the final to ensure that there is sufficient time to consult publicly on the proposed extension and follow the required parliamentary procedure.

A copy of the consultation will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on www.gov.uk. The consultation will run until 23 March 2025.

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The Government are today announcing an important reform to the Home Office’s exclusion policy.

Under new measures, the Home Office will expand the criteria for exclusion to ensure that while Russia remains an acute national security threat to the UK, exclusion from the UK may be considered if the individual is part of an elite linked to the Russian state.

This category will consider any individual who:

Provides significant support to the Russian state;

and/or owes their significant status or wealth to the Russian state;

and/or has access to the highest levels of the Russian state.

The entry of elites linked to the Russian state into the UK may threaten our national security and our national interests. Elites linked to the Russian state may pose a number of specific harms, including but not limited to: acting as tools of influence for the Russian state; opening the UK to accusations of hypocrisy for welcoming these individuals while condemning the actions of the Russian state; and enabling the continuation and expansion of the Russian state’s aggression or malign activities.

The UK has been steadfast in its response to Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and to its malign activities in the UK and around the world. We have imposed extensive sanctions on elites linked to the Russian state, strengthened our law enforcement capabilities through the National Crime Agency’s combating kleptocracy cell, and closed the legislative loopholes open to money laundering by criminal actors.

Despite these measures, there are members of the elite who continue to travel to the UK while denouncing the west in public life, seeking to enjoy in private the benefits here, which they deprive others of in Russia. The nature of the Russian state, with its lack of rule of law, free media, or delineation between the public and private realms, means that we can no longer rely on existing exclusions measures, such as grounds of corruption or involvement in serious crime to deal with corrupt elites. We must go further to ensure that those who pose a threat to UK interests, because they enable, support or are indebted to the Kremlin regime, are prevented from accessing the UK.

Section 19(1) of the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011 requires the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley (Yvette Cooper) to report to Parliament as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of every relevant three-month period on the exercise of their TPIM powers under the Act during that period.

The level of information provided will always be subject to slight variations based on operational advice.

The TPIM Review Group (TRG) keeps every TPIM notice under regular and formal review. TRG meetings were convened on 19 and 22 November 2024.

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