There are, of course, policies and organisations that frustrate attempts to get a grip on illegal migration—especially the ECHR. But by far the biggest problem is that, whatever it says, the UK establishment—which includes both Labour and the Conservatives—doesn’t really want to.
Indeed, when it felt that it really had to get a move on, due to mass public anger over the accidental release of convicted foreign sex offender Hadush Kebatu from prison, it managed to deport the Ethiopian national in a matter of days.
Labour Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood boasted on social media that she had “pulled every lever” to ensure the removal took place. But this has backfired, prompting many to ask: why can’t you do the same with all the other foreign criminals?
Rupert Lowe MP urged Mahmood to “pull those same ‘levers’ millions of times, and we might start listening.”
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice added that ministers “could deport 10,000 foreign criminals blocking our prisons within a few months” if they really wanted to.
[It] just requires political will.
But, as TCW editor Kathy Gyngell highlighted, they “only pull levers when there’s public anger and we’re all looking at you.”
Commentators also hit back at Mahmood’s claim that “our streets are safer” because of this migrant’s removal. Journalist Allison Pearson said:
No, home secretary, our streets are not “safer” because you deported one illegal migrant. There are tens of thousands of Kebatus that the Home Office tries to hide and get off the books asap.
She added that “safety of British people is not a priority” for the government.
As if to prove this point, news emerged at the same time as Kebatu’s deportation that an Afghan national suspected of murdering a dog walker in a triple stabbing entered the UK illegally on a lorry.
Broadcaster Colin Brazier lamented that “for too long our mainstream media has suspended its scepticism about young men who come here illegally, from countries steeped in blood.”
They persist in thinking new arrivals can only make a benign contribution to British life. This lie is wearing thin.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
