The UK removed the highest number of foreign criminals and immigration offenders since 2018, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new Labour administration stepped up deportations since winning power in July.
(Bloomberg) — The UK removed the highest number of foreign criminals and immigration offenders since 2018, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new Labour administration stepped up deportations since winning power in July.
The new Labour administration is trying to show it’s being tough on migration, after scrapping the previous Conservative government’s controversial plan to deport some migrants arriving illegally on small boats across the English Channel to Rwanda.
Tackling immigration has become a top priority for Starmer, amid the growing popularity of the anti-migration Reform UK party. Concerns around the numbers of people arriving in small boats across the English Channel over the summer escalated into far-right riots, with attempts made to burn down hotels housing asylum seekers.
Official data released in November revealed that net migration to the UK hit 906,000 in the year to June 2023, far higher than first thought, and while that number had fallen to 728,000 a year later, voters are still concerned that historically high levels of migration are piling pressure on already-squeezed housing, eduction and health services.
While asylum seekers make up less than 10% of migrants to the UK, the issue of small boat crossings has proved to be a lightning rod after former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised — and failed — to “stop the boats.” While Starmer’s government has vowed to crack down on people smugglers, it is also speeding up the processing of asylum claims to reduce the UK’s expensive reliance on hotels to house asylum seekers.
