TODAY’S WEATHER

🌧️ These are good days to carry an umbrella (I discovered yesterday): Glasgow can expect heavy rain around lunchtime, interrupting a largely pleasant day, while Edinburgh will face the same mid-afternoon. Aberdeen gets its rain early evening. London has a high chance of rain at points all day. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Reform’s immigration plan | Israel defends Gaza strike | Hospitals report thousands of “serious incidents”

📣 Nigel Farage’s Reform party unveiled its plan to tackle what it calls “uncontrolled illegal immigration”, sparking fierce debate about the practicality - and morality - of the proposals.

The party’s UK chair said it was reasonable to deport up to 600,000 people in the first Parliament under a Reform UK government. Reform also plans secure facilities to hold 24,000 people being deported every month: all figures far in excess of what governments have managed to date. (BBC)

• Reaction from across the political spectrum is later in today’s briefing ⬇️

📣 The Israeli military said its double strike on a Gaza hospital was targeting a Hamas surveillance camera. But it failed to provide evidence for its claims, and media organisations pointed out that news agencies had been providing a widely-used feed from the hospital’s roof. The first strike killed a Reuters cameraman producing one such live shot, one of five journalists killed in the attacks. (AP)

• Israeli protestors staged a “day of disruption” calling for an end to the war (Guardian)

📣 Scottish hospitals have reported more than 3,500 serious incidents involving patients to healthcare regulators over the last five years. The Scottish Conservatives say the figures show Health Secretary Neil Gray is “out of his depth” and described the data as “catastrophic”.

The data, however, is short on detail: we don’t see comparisons with other parts of the UK, or ratios that might point to health authorities doing a worse - or better - job than others. There’s the suggestion the rate of incidents was up by around 11% in the first six months of the year, but it’s far from clear if that’s a blip or a trend. (Herald)

IDEAS
As Nigel Farage asks “whose side are you on?”, commentators set out their stalls on immigration

🗣️ Nigel Farage very carefully threw a bomb into Britain’s immigration debate yesterday, in a move that - tactically - carried a strong echo of his moves last Christmas when he placed himself at the centre of political debate while other political leaders took a break.

Farage’s political standing has grown rapidly since the New Year: he could become Prime Minister if there were an election tomorrow.

And this time he’s not taking part in a squabble over party membership or his admiration (or not) of Elon Musk. He’s intervening in the immigration debate - specifically, about small boat crossings and asylum seekers - that’s the root cause of protests across the country.

It’s a debate wrapped - on one hand - with fears of racism and far-right rhetoric and, on the other hand, of national identity, resources and fears of crime.

Reaction across the media today reflects that divide. “Finally, a politician who gets it” is the headline on the Daily Mail’s front page. The Guardian, meanwhile, leads on Farage being “attacked for ‘ugly’ rhetoric of plan for mass deportation of asylum seekers”.

That Mail splash reports on Farage’s measures - “US-style raids to track down illegal immigrants living in Britain,” it calls them, and quotes Farage’s comments that without action there is “a genuine threat to public order.”

But in an accompanying analysis, the paper also warns of previous failures to deal with illegal migrants, potential legal challenges, the unanswered questions about the practicalities of vast detention camps, and the huge logistical challenges of deporting as many as 288,000 people a year - five flights a day, every day of the year, it points out.

The Guardian comes at it from the other end of the political spectrum. Farage, it says, has been accused of “‘ugly’ and ‘destructive’ rhetoric” after announcing Reform’s plans for mass deportations. “Downing Street accused Farage of not being serious about his plans,” it writes, “but in a sign of how Reform has set the tone for public debate, the prime minister’s spokesperson refused to criticise his references to irregular migration as an ‘invasion’ and a ‘scourge’ or his prediction that Britain is ‘not far away from major civil disorder’.”

In a leader, the newspaper calls Farage’s plans “Trumpism in a Union Jack”, calling his plans an unworkable fantasy, concealing his real aim: to destroy public trust in democratic institutions, crush legal constraints and turn fear into power.”

“This is a zero-sum moral framing: protect them or us,” the newspaper says. “This is not a policy contest. It is an attack on democratic norms – the kind that paves the way for repressive rule by and for economic elites, under the guise of national restoration.”

Across the news landscape, you’ll find more of the same: the Mirror says “Britain is better than this”, while, in the Sun (£), Jane Moore calls on Starmer to act, or face a “heavy price”.

Farage has struck again during the holidays, catching other political leaders off guard and shaping the political landscape in the process. With concerns about immigration now at the forefront of voters’ minds, the one thing the other leaders will not be able to do is ignore the issue. What they do about the substantive issue - if, in fact, they can do much at all - will be the trickier decision.

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 The Scottish Fiscal Commission is warning ministers must find big savings to close a £2.6 billion funding shortfall that’s expected by the end of the decade. (The Times £)

📣 Consultation has opened on a controversial £2.9 billion plan to extend Edinburgh’s tram network to Granton in the north and the Royal Infirmary in the south. But it’s far from clear who would pick up the bill - the Scottish Government has said it does not have the money. (The Scotsman has the exclusive)

📣 Wood Group, the troubled Aberdeen-based oil firm, could be about to leave the London Stock Exchange after its board said it was minded to accept a reduced takeover offer from Dubai-based Sidara. (Guardian)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 UK energy prices will rise this autumn and winter after energy regulator Ofgem announced its latest price caps. There had been predictions of a slight fall in energy prices, but it’s now expected the average household energy bill will rise by £35 to £1,755 when the new cap comes into force. (BBC)

📣 Donald Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on India as punishment for the country’s increasing use of discounted Russian oil. (Guardian)

📣 SpaceX managed a successful test flight of its newest-generation Starship, after a string of failures. It is the world’s largest, and most powerful, rocket. (BBC)

📣 Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement has sparked reactions from across the world, with Donald Trump, royals and fellow entertainment and sporting stars offering their congratulations. (Mirror) (Independent) (Sun)

• “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”: cue frenzy (BBC)

• Sarah Ditum: Swifities hold their breath for the wedding of their lives (Times £)

SPORT

⚽️ Celtic tumbled out of Europe’s top competition last night, in a city nowhere near Europe and to a side they should, surely, have beaten handsomely. Kazakhstan’s Karait Almaty, to be fair, played their limited game perfectly, having secured a 0-0 draw in Glasgow and then the same at their own ground, before a penalty shootout in which three Celtic players failed to score.

• How did Celtic let Champions League dream slip? (BBC)

• Brendan Rodgers admits Celtic will need to hold an inquest into the summer transfer window shambles that’s cost the club a £40m Champions League bonanza. (Daily Record)

• The Celtic board will now come under major scrutiny from fans after the Euro defeat which sees Rodgers’ side drop into the Europa League. (The Sun)

• “There can be no putting lipstick on this pig. Celtic's overlords will need to take immense culpability for this botched job […] against stubborn but very limited opponents.” (The Scotsman)

⚽️ It’s Rangers’ turn tonight to attempt to reach the Champions League promised land, but their task looks even tougher - on paper - than Celtic’s:" they are 3-1 down as they travel to Belgium to face Club Brugge.

• Oliver Antman remains convinced they can make it through (Daily Record)

• In the least surprising news of the week, Rangers aren’t bothering with Hamza Igamane’s airfare: the forward, who refused to play at the weekend, is likely to leave Ibrox and won’t be in Belgium. (The Sun)

• Graeme McGarry: Recalling Tavernier could save Martin his job (Herald £)