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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National

Why Labour’s stance on migrants will backfire

Reform European Union
A Home Office picture of failed asylum seekers being put on a return flight.
Asylum seekers being put on a return flight by the Home Office last month. Photograph: Home Office/PA

Progressive MPs and NGOs supporting refugee and migrant rights have criticised the government’s public display of arrests and deportations of putatively undocumented migrant workers, among whom may be victims of trafficking. Enver Solomon (Lights, camera, and a new low: why is the government making Deportation TV, 10 February) and John Harris (Starmer’s dislike of real politics is plain to see. It’s why his government has no direction, 9 February) rightly suggest that this performative attempt to take the wind from Reform’s sails will not only fail but also foster racism and xenophobia.

In my article in the RTE/Espol journal’s special edition on migration in 2022, I argued that Theresa May’s support for the Modern Slavery Act and the 2014 protocol to the International Labour Organization’s forced labour convention (no 29) had been linked to their weaponisation by anti-migration populism.

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