European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen survived a no-confidence motion in the European Parliament on 10 July, with only 175 MEPs in support, compared to 360 against and 18 abstaining.

Britain and France unveiled a pilot “one in, one out” scheme under which migrants arriving via small boats to the UK will be detained, returned to France and, in exchange, an equivalent number of asylum seekers with UK family ties will be admitted each week, potentially limited to around 50 people.

Ursula von der Leyen has defied her critics by comfortably surviving a no-confidence vote, with an overwhelming number of European Union legislators rejecting a censure motion against her.

In the early hours of Thursday, Russian forces unleashed a record-breaking aerial assault on Kyiv, involving around 400 Shahed drones and 18 cruise and ballistic missiles, the largest strike since the full-scale invasion began three years ago.

A new bilateral deal announced at the end of French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit pledges a pilot “one in, one out” returns scheme: the UK will return around 2,600 irregular Channel migrants per year to France, matched by accepting an equal number of asylum seekers with strong UK ties.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed on a new deal targeting small-boat Channel crossings during Macron’s state visit to the UK.