By OLIVIA ALLHUSEN, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER

Published: 07:28 EST, 25 February 2026 | Updated: 19:25 EST, 25 February 2026

The New York Police Department (NYPD) are hunting down two men suspected of throwing snow at them as officers tried to break up a snowball fight.

According to NYPD’s own data, their officers were involved in 47 police shootings in 2025. At least two New Yorkers were killed.

Now the same force has released images of two men holding snowballs – one quite large in fairness- after an icy brawl broke out in the city’s iconic Washington Park on Monday.

An NYPD spokesman said: ‘Wanted for ASSAULT ON A POLICE OFFICER: On 2/23/26 at approximately 4.20pm two uniformed police officers were inside Washington Square Park when two individuals intentionally struck the officers multiple times with snow and ice causing injury to their head, neck, and face.’

Video shows the moment police officers are pelted with the ice by the crowd of laughing youths.

The officers, growing visibly frustrated, shoved at least two people to the ground as snowballs continued to fly at the annual Sidetalk’s snowball fight.

At one point, a person runs up behind an officer and mushes some snow onto his head before sprinting off. At one point an officer is seen to whip out his taser.

One of the officers can be seen rubbing his red eye toward the end of the video.

They are then forced to walk back through another volley of snowballs from skateboarders trying to take cover behind a cafe entrance.

In a statement, the New York Police Department said multiple uniformed officers were struck in the face with snowballs and were ‘removed by EMS in stable condition’ to a nearby hospital.

Jessica Tisch, the city’s police commissioner, called the behaviour disgraceful and said the department is investigating.

Several political figures in the city were quick to denounce the dustup, with many of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s critics seizing on the incident as evidence that respect for law enforcement has declined under the new mayor.

But Mamdani, in a post on X on Tuesday, wrote, ‘Officers, like all city workers, have been out in a historic blizzard, keeping New Yorkers safe and cars moving. Treat them with respect.

‘If anyone’s catching a snowball, it’s me.’

Police unions were also left fuming over the injuries and demanded justice.

‘Unacceptable and outrageous — this is the environment that NYC police officers are up against. Our police officers are being treated for their injuries, but the case CANNOT end there. T

‘The individuals involved must be identified, arrested and charged with assault on a police officer. And all of our city leaders must speak up to condemn this despicable attack,’ the Police Benevolent Association said in a statement.

‘What we saw in Washington Square Park today was not harmless fun – it was a deliberate, outrageous, and dangerous attack on uniformed police officers.’

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the province’s Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides will be holding a news conference on Wednesday to discuss how this week’s provincial budget will affect education funding.

The announcement comes a day before the budget is scheduled to be tabled in the Alberta legislature amidst government warnings that it will include a deficit of at least $6.4 billion.

Education funding and classroom makeup have been a major point of contention between the provincial government and Alberta’s 51,000 teachers.

Teachers staged a three-week-long strike last fall that ended when the UCP passed back-to-work legislation and invoked the Canadian Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to prevent educators from challenging the legislation in court.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association is also expected to respond to the government announcement Wednesday afternoon.

The Premier and education minister are scheduled to speak at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. Global News will livestream it in the video player above.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Bill Gates admitted having affairs with two Russian women but insisted they were not Jeffrey Epstein’s victims as he apologised to staff over his ties to the disgraced financier during a town hall meeting at the Gates Foundation on Tuesday.

The billionaire told employees it had been a ‘huge mistake’ to spend time with Epstein and to involve foundation executives in meetings with the convicted sex offender, according to a Wall Street Journal report. 

‘I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,’ Gates said, according to a recording cited by the Journal.

The report said he acknowledged having two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later became aware of, but stressed they did not involve any of Epstein’s victims. 

During the town hall meeting, Gates told employees: ‘I did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities.’

‘I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,’ he added. ‘To be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him.’

A spokesman for the philanthropic organisation confirmed the Microsoft founder had ‘taken responsibility for his actions’. 

Previously released US Department of Justice documents show Gates met Epstein repeatedly after the financier had served a prison sentence, with discussions said to have centred on expanding Gates’s philanthropic work.

The documents also included pictures of the Microsoft founder posing with women whose faces are redacted. 

According to the Journal, Gates said the images were photos Epstein asked him to take with Epstein’s assistants after their meetings.

Gates said he began meeting Epstein in 2011, several years after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor. 

He acknowledged he was aware Epstein had been subject to an 18-month period of travel restrictions but admitted he did not properly scrutinise his background. 

He continued seeing him even after his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, raised concerns in 2013. 

‘Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behavior,’ Gates told staff.

He also said he remained in contact with Epstein through 2014, travelled on his private jet and met him in Germany, France, New York and Washington. 

‘I never stayed overnight,’ he added, saying he did not visit Epstein’s private island.

Of his ex-wife, he said: ‘To give her credit, she was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing.’

Gates’s ties to Epstein were widely reported to have been a source of tension in the couple’s marriage. 

Melinda later described Epstein as ‘evil personified’ and said she was deeply uncomfortable with her husband’s dealings with him.

The couple announced their divorce in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage, saying they could no longer ‘grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives’.

The Journal has previously reported that Epstein later threatened Gates over his relationship with Mila Antonova, the Russian bridge player.

Epstein is said to have met Antonova while seeking financial backing for a bridge academy and later paid for her to attend a software coding course. 

In a 2013 email to a senior Gates adviser, Epstein allegedly referred to two women he claimed Gates had been involved with during his marriage, warning they risked ‘becoming overnight sensations’. 

Gates met Antonova at a bridge tournament in 2009, four years before she is said to have met Epstein. 

He also said the nuclear physicist had worked at one of his companies, although it is unclear whether their relationship, which allegedly began in 2010, overlapped with her employment. 

Boris Nikolic, who had links to both Gates and Epstein, was aware of the relationships and later informed Epstein.

A spokesman for the Gates Foundation said Gates held a scheduled town hall meeting with the employees and answered questions on a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files.

‘In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions,’ they said.

The spokesman also said the Gates Foundation statement acknowledged what the billionaire shared during the town hall meeting and that it was all the foundation would say about the report.

Earlier this month, the organisation said it did not make any financial payments to Epstein or employ him at any time.

The billionaire also pulled out of India’s AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote last week.

The Gates Foundation, which Gates started with Melinda in 2000 and of which he is chairman, is one of the world’s biggest funders of global health initiatives.

The school wars spreading over London have reached new heights, with Operation Cedarfield being by police to clamp down on who is responsible.

Since Metro first broke the story two weeks ago, the schools across London taking part in the fights – where they are encouraged to ‘be violent’ – has increased nearly 10 fold.

The first post divided eight schools in Hackney into ‘red’ and ‘blue’ and told pupils to bring sharp objects such as compasses to harm each other.

Since then, Metro has counted more than 50 schools taking part across the capital, setting up their own ‘wars’.

These include schools in Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Croydon and Harrow.

But parents are crying out for help, with some who have already lost a child to knife crime begging for it to be stopped.

Which schools are involved?

At time of writing, Metro has counted 58 schools involved.

A somewhat-sophisticated scoring system has also been put in place, with 20 points awarded for ‘juggin them’ and 10 for ‘bangin’.

In Greenwich, this includes: Plumstead Manor, Thomas Tallis, St Paul’s Academy, St Mary’s, Woolwich Polytechnic, John Roan, Ark Greenwich School and Royal Greenwich Trust.

In Hackney, City Academy, Cardinal Pole, Haggerston School, Urswick School, The Excelsior Academy, Bridge Academy, Mossbourne Community Academy and City of London Academy Shoreditch Park are all mentioned in the post.

In Tower Hamlets, Langdon Park, Canary Wharf College, St Paul’s Secondary, Bow School. Bishop Chancellor, Stepney Green, Wapping High School and George Green have all been named.

Other posts have also called for inter-borough competitions, with the entirety of north London divided and pitted against each other.

Another has also put boroughs on the other side of the capital against each other, with Ealing and Brent at war with Waltham Forest and Southwark.

‘I dread another parent being told their child has been stabbed’

Tammy Brown, who lost her son Russell to knife crime in 2016, has called on Tower Hamlets parents to make sure they know what their children are doing.

She told Metro: ‘It totally took my breath away seeing these posts. I hate to think of another mum or dad getting that knock on the door that turns their world upside down.

‘Innocent kids could be hurt and for what? Absolutely nothing. It’s just school vs school and terrible and scary for all.’

Pupils are also at risk of being ‘jumped’ without knowing about the posts.

One grandmother, who has a grandson in year 9 in Hackney, said as Mare Street is pedestrianied children will be more vulnerable with nowhere to hide.

She said: ‘There is no hiding on that street, everything is completely open.

‘What if a pupil just happens to be walking through it and gets jumped? It’s a disaster waiting to happen.’

Who is responsible?

All of the posts are circulating on Tiktok and Snapchat by dedicated accounts.

But some pupils do not believe it is their fellow students who have the posts, but rather outsiders looking to cause trouble.

One year 10 student told Metro: ‘People are just trying to fearmonger parents. Most schools are interlinked and have good relationships.

‘These people like to create fear and worry that is already in our communities. But any teenager with common sense would not meet somewhere where the police have been told about and bring a weapon.’

Operation Cedarfield

The Metropolitan Police is now ramping up efforts to find out who is responsible.

They have named the task Operation Cedarfield, with headteachers across London urging students to go straight home after school.

Commander Neerav Patel said: ‘We’re aware of social media posts circulating and are in close contact with schools across several London boroughs to offer reassurance.

‘Officers will maintain a strong, visible presence around schools, and will respond firmly to any reports of violence or disorder.

‘We continue to closely monitor online spaces and have worked with platforms to request a dozen social media accounts to be disabled where threats or violence were planned or encouraged.

‘I would like to remind young people of the serious consequences of getting involved in matters like this.

‘An arrest, charge and conviction for violence and carrying weapons could mean imprisonment with a significant long-term impact on future opportunities.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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By MARK DUELL, DEPUTY CHIEF REPORTER (DIGITAL)

Published: 04:53 EST, 25 February 2026 | Updated: 08:45 EST, 25 February 2026

Vladimir Putin’s ‘goddaughter’ has issued a demand for an end to his horrific war in Ukraine.

TV presenter, media owner, influencer and socialite Ksenia Sobchak, 44, pleaded for an end to the bloodshed in a post this week.

Her late father, former St Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, was Putin’s political mentor, and the dictator attended her Orthodox Church baptism.

In a post marking the fourth anniversary of the war, the former Playboy model lambasted the war started by Putin and said it ‘must end’.

‘For four years, my country has been living in war,’ she said, adding that the worst of the horrors were hidden from wealthier people living in Moscow, St Petersburg and other major cities.

‘This is not visible in the capitals. It is not visible in the cities. But it’s already woven into countless thousands, and thousands, and thousands of human destinies – and if we mark on a map every mother who lost a son or daughter, every wife who lost a husband, every family that lost a person killed at the front – the whole country will be burning with red dots of grief and pain.’

She warned: ‘Russians are dying, Ukrainians are dying—sometimes quickly, sometimes in pain and agonisingly slowly.

‘Cities on both sides are freezing without heat and light. All of this must end. Both countries will be dealing with the consequences for a very long time, many, many years.

‘Today, I wish us all that this day will come sooner.’

Sobchak stood as a ‘liberal’ rival to Putin in the 2018 presidential election, but she is usually loyal to her godfather.

It comes as Russian media confirmed the names of 200,000 Russians who died in the war.

Other sources indicate the full death toll to be around 320,000.

Shortly after the war broke out in 2022, Knesia used her Israeli passport to enter Lithuania from Belarus.

It is believed she was running away from persecution as Moscow state investigators looked into whether she said the invasion into Ukraine was ‘funded from abroad’.

Many suspect Putin actually allowed Knesia to leave – rather than see the woman dubbed his ‘goddaughter’ held in detention like his other political foes.

But the socialite-turned-politician, who was once called the ‘Paris Hilton of Moscow’, grew up to become a critic of the Kremlin.

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The key moment in President Trump’s State of the Union address came when he trapped Democrats with a ‘gotcha’ question in front of tens of millions of watching Americans.

‘If you agree with this statement then stand up and show your support,’ he said. ‘The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens…not illegal aliens.’

There was uproar as Trump delivered the line part way through his marathon speech. Republicans gave him the biggest applause of the night, standing and clapping for nearly two minutes, as Democrats remained stubbornly in their seats.

The president shook his head and stared at them in disbelief. 

‘Isn’t that a shame, you should be ashamed of yourselves for not standing up,’ he said eventually. Then he yelled: ‘You should be ashamed!’

Ilhan Omar, the Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, was glued to her seat, refusing to rise. Instead, she jabbed her finger, screaming incoherently at the president, close to tears. Mark Kelly, the Democratic senator from Arizona, slumped in his chair staring into space. Other Democrats bowed their heads or avoided the president’s gaze.

It was the most high-octane of a series of unscripted outbursts in which Trump unleashed his wrath on political opponents in a ferocious 108-minute tirade.

In perhaps the angriest of all his speeches he repeatedly tore into Democrats, going on to declare that ‘these people are crazy!’ and calling them ‘sick.’

Later, he lambasted them again for not standing to honor those murdered by illegal immigrants.

Democrats remained in their seats once more as Trump pledged justice for Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed on a North Carolina commuter train last August.

As her mother wept in the gallery, Trump scolded Democrats: ‘Why are you not standing? How do you not stand?’

There is a long tradition of opposition parties staying seated during a president’s State of the Union address as a form of silent protest.

Trump, a former reality TV star and producer, knew that and used it to make Democrats look, in the eyes of many viewers, callous. It was theater, but it was effective.

Before his speech there had been much discussion among Democrats about whether they would appear unpatriotic if they did not stand to applaud an anticipated appearance by Team USA’s victorious Olympic ice hockey team.

In the end, they did rise when Trump announced he would give the Medal of Freedom to goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck. 

Divisions were similarly set aside when the Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded to Army Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot wounded in the raid that captured Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

‘Even as he was gushing blood, which was flowing back down the aisle, the helicopter lands at a steep angle,’ Trump recounted in a dramatic and graphic description of the Maduro operation.

‘Eric maneuvered his helicopter with all of those lives and souls to face the enemy and let his gunners eliminate the threat, saving the lives of his fellow warriors.’ 

Amid the drama there were also tributes to a 100-year-old former fighter pilot, retired Navy Captain E Royce Williams, and Erika Kirk, the widow of assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

A potential flashpoint passed without serious incident when Trump addressed a recent Supreme Court ruling that declared illegal his global tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic vision. 

Only three of the six justices who voted to knock down his tariff policy braved turning up, including Amy Coney Barrett, who was nominated to the court by Trump.

As the justices sat in the front row they appeared to be awaiting the president’s displeasure like schoolchildren outside the principal’s office. 

Ultimately, having gone nuclear on Democrats, Trump instead limited himself to calling it an ‘unfortunate ruling,’ but there was an unmistakable air of menace in his voice.

In all, Trump was ringmaster for one hour and 48 minutes, a record length for a State of the Union address, and the most notable moments – including some of his kamikaze attacks on Democrats – came when he abandoned his teleprompter.

But at the heart of his performance was a speech carefully crafted to capitalize on what was expected to be his biggest TV audience of the year, with an estimated 40 million viewers.

Trump had entered the chamber for the first official State of the Union address of his second term at a particularly perilous time for his administration and the world.

The president’s back is to the wall with his approval rating near an all-time low, many voters frustrated by the cost of living, and some of his own supporters getting restless.

Republicans face a potential stake to the heart in the midterm elections in November, which could see them lose control of the House just as 2018’s blue wave led to a block in Trump’s first administration.

The honeymoon after his 2024 triumph seems long over.

As always when backed into a corner, Trump came out swinging and attempted to verbally batter his detractors into submission.

He has been frustrated behind the scenes because he believes his achievements are not being communicated well enough to the public, resulting in bad polls.

The substance of his speech was about reclaiming the mantle on two major issues that propelled him to victory in 2024, which have since become liabilities – the economy and immigration.

A CNN poll released on the eve of his address showed 65 percent of Americans now disapprove of his handling of inflation, and 58 percent disapprove on immigration, making them the areas in which he is now most unpopular. It has been a stunning reversal for the president.

In response, Trump reeled off his achievements on immigration – the ‘most secure border in history,’ ‘zero illegal aliens admitted,’ slashing fentanyl coming in to the country, a murder rate at the lowest in over 100 years. 

On the economy, he touted the lowest inflation in five years, gas averaging $2.30 a gallon, the price of eggs down 60 per cent, the lowest mortgage rates in four years, and $18 trillion inward investment secured.

Natural gas production was at all-time high, 2.4 million Americans had been removed from food stamps, prescription drug prices have plummeted, workers are benefiting from no tax on tips or overtime, and families from new Trump accounts for children, the president reported.

Blaming the ‘affordability’ crisis on Democrats, he pointed at them angrily and said: ‘You caused that problem! We are doing really well, those prices are plummeting downward. Hold on a little while, we’re getting it down.’

His first year had seen an economic ‘turnaround for the ages’ that had made America the ‘hottest country,’ and ushered in a ‘golden age,’ he said.

‘The roaring economy is roaring like never before,’ he added.

As evidence, above all, he touted the Dow hitting 50,000 for the first time.

However, many Americans, especially those who do not own stocks, clearly do not feel the same way.

Growth is lagging behind expectations, interest rates remain stubbornly high, and household budgets across America are straining.

Prices for groceries, housing, insurance and utilities remain significantly higher than they were a few years ago.

And new figures released on Friday showed the economy slowed more than expected last quarter while inflation accelerated.

Trump’s speech was partly a test run for the economic message Republicans around the country will run on in the midterms in November, seeking to assuage voters’ concerns about the cost of living.

‘His job, for the sake of his party, is to show the silver lining,’ Jeff Shesol, a former speechwriter for Democratic President Bill Clinton, said. ‘But if he’s going to insist that the silver lining is gold, no one’s buying it. And it will be a very difficult position on the campaign trail for Republicans to defend.

‘Trump has always believed, going back to his real estate days, that he can sell anyone on anything. He’s still doing that. But the problem is, you can’t tell somebody who has lost their job and can’t get a new one that things are going great.’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had warned Democrats to display ‘decorum’ and not to make any ‘unforced errors,’ but some could not contain themselves.

Democratic Texas congressman Al Green was ejected for the second year in a row.

In another wild scene he was ushered out after brandishing a sign reading ‘Black people aren’t apes!’ – a response to a video released by a staffer on Trump’s Truth Social account which depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.

As Green he was thrown out, a Republican member of Congress tried to rip away his sign.

Meanwhile, members of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus and their guests, including survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse, wore white in protest. Trump made no mention of the Epstein files during his speech.

In a capital riven by partisan divisiveness, more than 40 Democrats skipped the event entirely to attend rival events, including a rally on the National Mall.

Amid the chaos, Democrats also ended up having three separate responses to Trump’s address.

There was an official one by Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, a Spanish-language one, and a progressive one – a move that may leave voters questioning if the party has a coherent alternative message.

The choice of Spanberger was a clear sign that the cost of living will be central to the Democratic midterm campaign.

She sailed to an unexpectedly easy double-digit victory in Virginia last November by focusing on that issue.

Like his first year in office, Trump spent much of the speech on foreign policy. In particular, he lauded the audacious capture of Maduro, and the brokering of a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.

He is far from the first president to campaign on a domestic agenda and then become heavily embroiled in foreign affairs in office, but polls show some supporters are becoming vexed by the change in focus.

As Trump spoke, two US aircraft carriers are loitering near Iran amid the build up of the largest American military presence in the Middle East since the Iraq invasion.

Polls show many voters want him to spend his time on other issues.

The CNN survey showed only 82 percent of Republicans now approve of his performance compared to 90 percent a year ago.

However, his speech, with its aggressive attacks on Democrats and justifications of his economic record, appeared to have resonated with supporters.

Patrick McHenry, the Republican former North Carolina congressman, said: ‘He nailed the Republican base and brought them back in the fold with a solid message on the economy.’

Світовий банк спільно з урядом України, Європейською комісією та ООН представили звіт RDNA5 — п’яту швидку оцінку збитків і потреб відновлення України. Про це повідомила Прем’єр­міністр Юлія Свириденко. Згідно зі звітом, загальна потреба у відновленні та відбудові України становить 588 млрд доларів США. Цю оцінку здійснено на кінець грудня 2025 року, вона не враховує руйнувань, завданих у січні — лютому 2026­го. 

Збитки лише за 2025 рік становлять 64 млрд доларів, а темпи руйнувань зросли більш ніж удвічі. Найбільших втрат зазнали житловий сектор, транспортна і логістична інфраструктура та енергетика.

«Цей звіт дає змогу мати визнані світом оцінки збитків та використовувати їх в подальшому — у планах відбудови і позовних вимогах до держави­агресора», — зазначила Прем’єр­міністр. Звіт також визначає можливі джерела для відновлення та оцінює, що приблизно 40% може надійти від приватного сектору.

«Відбудова України — спільна відповідальність демократичного світу. Наше завдання — не лише відновити зруйноване, а й створити більш стійку економіку та забезпечити довгострокову спроможність держави. Дякую всім партнерам, які підтримують Україну», — наголосила Юлія Свириденко.

Illegal migrants would be given a free house and paid a wage with no requirement to work under the Green Party’s immigration policy.

Zack Polanski plans to let arrivals use the NHS for free the moment they enter Britain.

And they will be allowed to work ‘with no restrictions’ under plans for ‘a world without borders’.

It comes as a bombshell poll put the Greens in second place nationally ahead of an increasingly fraught Gorton and Denton by-election tomorrow. 

Unearthed policy proposals seen by the Daily Mail show the Greens plan to ‘abolish’ immigration detention and grant a full amnesty to illegal migrants to stay in Britain, even if their asylum claims are rejected.

The internal documents state that ‘migration is not a criminal offence under any circumstances’.

Last week, the party’s plans to legalise drugs including crack cocaine and heroin for recreational use were exposed.

According to the immigration proposals, the Greens seek ‘to establish a system that recognises that all migrants are treated as citizens in waiting and therefore supports and encourages them to put down roots in their new home’. 

Last night the Conservatives, Reform UK and Labour derided the ‘open border plans’, branding them ‘financially reckless but also dangerous’.

But Mr Polanski’s party said it was ‘proud’ of the policies, which it claimed have proved ‘popular’ on the doorstep during the Gorton and Denton campaign. Under the Green leader’s premiership all illegal migrants would be handed a wage ‘at the level of Universal Basic Income’ with ‘no requirement to be either working or actively seeking work’.

Migrant families would be ‘accommodated in a house or flat with exclusive use’ and lone men would ‘each have their own room’ in shared accommodation – but would be given their own property if they claimed to be LGBTQIA+ for ‘safeguarding purposes’.

The proposals add that illegal migrants ‘will be allowed to take up employment, with no restriction’ and will be ‘provided with free access to all NHS facilities’ the second they cross the Channel – with these rights remaining ‘even if their [asylum] case is rejected’.

Meanwhile immigration detention ‘will be abolished’ and even illegal migrants who have ‘exhausted all [asylum] appeal rights’ would not be deported. 

The policy says: ‘There will be no requirement for any applicant, or any person whose case has been refused, to report regularly to the Department of Migration.’

Reform UK’s home office spokesman Zia Yusuf last night branded the plans ‘dangerous’. 

He told the Daily Mail: ‘Under the Greens’ open-borders plans, not only is every hoodlum and criminal welcome to our shores but entitled to free housing, healthcare and anything else they might fancy.

‘My only surprise is Zack Polanski isn’t promising to furnish them all with free heroin and crack cocaine, which he wants to legalise. The Greens’ policies are not only financially reckless but also dangerous.’ 

The Greens plan to legalise these drugs because they ‘enhance human relationships and human creativity’.

Mr Polanski’s party plans to create a ‘direct partnership’ between the Government and South American drug cartels to introduce a ‘sustainable supply’ of cocaine to Britain and teach primary school children how to take drugs safely.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail revealed yesterday that Green policy states sex work ‘should be decriminalised’ and restrictions placed on sexually explicit material ‘ended’, except for those aimed at protecting children.

The party’s official immigration policy suggests that migrants would be free to travel to Britain using fake documents as ‘penalties imposed on commercial carriers for transporting undocumented migrants will be abolished’ and asylum claims would be admissible ‘regardless of route’.

Border force officers will be made to take a ‘neutral approach’ to interviewing asylum seekers and ‘what the applicant says will be believed in the absence of contrary evidence’.

The policy also says that illegal migrants who have been in the UK for at least five years would be ‘invited’ to stay permanently.

Mr Polanski’s plans for Britain also state that foreign students and anybody with a visa – apart from a visitors’ visa – would be given ‘the right to vote in elections and referendums’.

Last night the Tories accused the Greens of planning to ‘hand out a welcome pack to every illegal arrival’ and said the party had been captured ‘by hard-Left activists’. A Labour source said: ‘The public expect immigration controls that are properly enforced – not the open-borders plan the Greens are proposing.’

The revelations come as voters prepare to head to the polls in Gorton and Denton tomorrow, with the Greens attempting to position themselves as the main opposition to Reform after Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, was blocked from standing.

Polls suggest the outcome will be tight. Last night Green candidate Hannah Spencer accused her Labour counterpart of ‘racist dogwhistles’ and urged Angeliki Stogia to ‘condemn her party’s racist campaign tactics’ in an escalation of tensions.

It came as a poll of 3,029 voters from Find Out Now put the Green Party in second place nationally, with 18 per cent of the vote. This was behind Reform, on 25 per cent, and ahead of Labour, on 16 per cent.

A Green source said the policy proposals are different from the party’s 2024 manifesto, which is costed, but conceded that it is a ‘long-standing policy and aim’ of the party.

A spokesman said: ‘We’re proud of this policy, voted on and decided by our members… We know it’s popular as well – Green policy regularly comes out as the most popular in polls.’