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James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said that all 92,000 ‘legacy’ applications for asylum (made before 28 June 2022) had been processed, but 4,500 were reclassified as ‘complex’ and 17,000 were withdrawn. Of 112,138 applications subject to an initial decision in 2023, 67 per cent were granted. The number of migrants to cross the Channel in small boats came to 29,437 in 2023, 36 per cent fewer than the 45,774 in 2022. Flooding in a tunnel under the Thames led to cancellation for a day of all Eurostar trains across the Channel. Doctors below the rank of consultant began a six-day strike. A surge in scabies was reported amid a shortage of the lotion used to treat it.
In the New Year honours, Michael Eavis, the founder of the Glastonbury Festival, and Tim Martin, the founder of Wetherspoons pubs, Alexander McCall Smith, the novelist, and Sajid Javid, the politician, were knighted, and Jilly Cooper, the novelist, was made a dame. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order for conducting the coronation service. Stuart Broad, the England fast bowler who retired after the Ashes, was appointed CBE, as was the novelist Kate Mosse. Dame Shirley Bassey, the singer, was appointed Companion of Honour. Of 1,227 honoured, 13.8 per cent were from an ethnic minority background. Liz Truss, prime minister for 49 days, nominated 11 in her resignation honours, including three peers. The Australian-born journalist John Pilger died aged 84. Camila Batmanghelidjh, the founder of Kids Company, which closed in disarray in 2015 after 19 years, died aged 61. The British Library remained incapacitated by a cyber attack on 31 October.
Ofgem raised the price cap on energy by 5 per cent.
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