Britain’s Labour government is keen on deporting illegal migrants
But its efforts will run into roadblocks
“Mark my words, this government will turn the page,” Sir Keir Starmer promised in a recent speech. It is the sort of thing the prime minister says about many areas of policy. This time the topic was one near the top of voters’ concerns: immigration. Labour has pledged to expand detention centres, “smash” people-smuggling gangs and, above all, return more illegal entrants. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, boasted on December 16th that the government is on course to send home more in its first six months than in any six-month period in the past five years. Days earlier Britain carried out the first removal flight to Pakistan since 2020.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Point of slow return”
From the December 21st 2024 edition
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