What happened
The UK has ended a pilot scheme allowing some migrants who crossed the Channel in small boats to be returned to France in exchange for an equal number of people being admitted legally to Britain. The arrangement, introduced just over a year ago, has resulted in about 1,500 people being sent back to France. 

Who said what
The government “would have liked the scheme to continue, but felt it did not reach the desired scale”, said Simon Jones and Vicky Wong on the BBC. Flights carrying people back to France will continue over the coming weeks. The Home Office said the scheme was “no longer processing new cases”, but that lessons from it would be used to “accelerate efforts” to remove people with no right to remain.

What next?
The government says it will continue working with France to reduce the number of Channel crossings and increase removals. So far this year 19,135 people have crossed in small boats, 42% fewer than during the same period last year. The decline is due to a “variety of reasons”, according to France 24, “including increased police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France”.

What happened
Greggs is to close factories in north London, Cumbria, County Durham and Kelso, Scotland, with 740 staff to be axed. The move will see it consolidate manufacturing into its remaining core facilities, increase automation and source certain products from specialist suppliers.

Who said what
Greggs registered a 7.7% sales growth in the second quarter of this year, but “investors had begun to question the consumer appetite for continued growth”, said the Financial Times. The chain has 2,796 shops across the UK and plans to open between 100 and 110 more by the end of the year.

Chief executive Roisin Currie said Greggs needed to “keep evolving alongside changing customer expectations”.

Sarah Woolley of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union said factory workers had played a “huge part” in the company’s success, adding that the union’s “immediate priority is to minimise the impact on our people where possible”.

What next?
Greggs is consulting on the proposed closures, which will take place over the next two and a half years. The bakery chain said the move would cost it about £60 million in the short term, but could save £20 million each year from 2028.

A debate has broken out at the University of St Andrews after a former student accused the institution of having a “culture of anti-Scottish classism”.

In a LinkedIn post three weeks ago, Sophie Rose Jenkins said the culture she encountered at the elite university made working-class students like her “feel ashamed of their home life”.

Speaking to The National, she recalled a group chat where members exchanged recommendations for designer clothes, and tutorials in which fellow students “refused to include me in the conversation because, apparently, they couldn’t understand my accent”. She claimed that the disparaging attitudes extended to staff: an adviser attempted to remove her from an elective course, telling her she was likely to fail, only for her to average more than 90%.

Jenkins’ story has “resonated with hundreds” of other students and “touched on a growing tension at St Andrews”, said The Guardian. The “debate around classism at Scottish universities is not new”, added the paper. In 2024, Edinburgh University offered guidance on how students should treat one another after rising claims of discrimination and classism. “Don’t be a snob!” it advised.

St Andrews vice-principal Niall Scott acknowledged in a statement that some students arrived with “immature, offensive and classist views”, but claimed “they tend not to leave with them”. He said universities had a “crucial role to play in challenging these attitudes by bringing together people from different backgrounds, cultures and perspectives, encouraging understanding, respect and inclusion”.