Daily roundup 12 April: Free bus travel, homelessness, and religious education

Labour has pledged to give under-25s in England free bus travel in areas where local councils bring services back into public ownership. The BBC reports that the £1.4bn policy would be paid for by cash from vehicle excise duty currently earmarked for building new roads. Leader Jeremy Corbyn will say "young people deserve a break" as he launches the policy in Derby on Thursday.


More than 100,000 homeless households in England will be living in temporary housing within two years on existing trends, an increase of more than a quarter on the current total, according to an annual state-of-the-nation report into homelessness. The Guardian reports that the Homelessness Monitor said the explosion in the placement of homeless families in temporary homes, often many miles from where they work and go to school, is driven by a dwindling supply of social and private rented housing.


Parents are pulling their children from religious education classes because they don't want them learning about Islam, teachers have warned. The Telegraph reports that the Association of Teachers and Lecturers' annual conference heard that mothers and fathers are abusing their right to withdraw children from the classes, hampering schools' attempts to "prepare a child for life in modern Britain".


Bad immigration decisions are having a "devastating" effect on families and businesses and undermining the rule of law, solicitors have warned. The BBC reports that the Law Society said nearly half of all appeals against decisions in England and Wales are overturned, suggesting the system is "seriously flawed". The Home Office said appeals are upheld for a variety of reasons, often because new evidence is presented.