The Home Office says almost 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted foreign criminals have been removed from the UK or left voluntarily since Labour took office, the highest total in a decade, as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood pledges to scale up deportations further amid accusations the government is promoting “harmful stereotypes” of migrants.
Nearly 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted criminals have been removed from the UK or left the country voluntarily since Labour won the 2024 general election, according to figures released by the Home Office. Officials described the total as the highest recorded in a decade. The announcement came alongside criticism that the government was promoting “harmful stereotypes” of migrants by linking migration with criminality.
A decade-high figure
According to the Home Office, 15,200 people who were in the UK illegally have been removed since the 2024 election, a 45 per cent increase on the equivalent 19-month period beforehand. A further 43,000 people are reported to have left the UK voluntarily after being told they had no legal right to remain. Deportations of foreign national offenders have risen by 32 per cent under the current government, with more than 8,700 removed to date. Alongside the figures, the Home Office released footage of a recent removals flight, showing detainees, their faces blurred, being escorted onto a plane bound for eastern Europe.
Mahmood pledges to go further
The figures were released as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she intended to “scale up” the number of deportations still further. Mahmood said she had vowed to increase removals of illegal migrants and had delivered on that pledge, but argued the government needed to go further to remove those with no right to remain in the country. “I will do whatever it takes to restore order and control,” she said.
Political pressure over immigration
The announcement comes as Sir Keir Starmer’s government sits third in recent opinion polls, behind both Reform UK and the Conservatives. Labour has pledged to increase the pace of deportations, end the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers, and reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats. More than 65,000 people have arrived in the UK via Channel crossings since Starmer became prime minister.
Changes planned to human rights appeals
The Home Office is preparing to bring forward legislation intended to stop people facing removal from what it describes as “gaming the system” by relying on the European Convention on Human Rights to appeal against deportation decisions. The UK is among several countries pushing for changes to how the convention is interpreted, particularly around Article 3, which protects against inhuman or degrading treatment, and Article 8, which protects the right to family life, both of which have previously been used to challenge removal decisions. Under the proposed changes, unauthorised migrants would also be restricted to a single route of appeal.
Ending the use of asylum hotels
Separately, the government has pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers before the end of this parliament, with plans to move toward more basic forms of accommodation, including the use of military sites, instead.
