Labour are changing the way they report the number of 'Deportations'.
Dame Angela Eagle MP, said on March 31st, 2025
“We have already deported, sent home, 19,000 people with no right to be here.
We’ve sent 19,000 people with no right to be here back in the first nine months we’ve had as a government, which is more than was achieved in any year in the last parliament.”
However her use of the word deportation was either used deliberately as a lie or she is showing her ignorance as to what Deportation actually means. If it is the later, it is very worrying that in her role as Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum, she doesn't really know the difference between Deported and Returned.
The Home Office states: “The term ‘deportations’ refers to a legally defined subset of returns, which are enforced either following a criminal conviction, or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is beneficial to the public good.” This definition is confirmed in its latest guidance.
Labour might be doing this through a smoke screen on purpose, however, as when you do look at Labour's numbers they aren't that much different to those of the previous governments.
Labours Claim 1
The claim made by Labour is that either 19,000 or 24,000 people have been “deported” since Labour came to power. In fact, these figures refer to the total number of immigration returns (up to 31 January or 22 March respectively), however, not all of these were officially classed as deportations. The majority involved people who left the UK voluntarily.
Labours Claim 2
The second claim made by Labour is that it has sent home more than was achieved in any year in the last parliament.
However, Labour returned 19,000 people in around seven months, and 24,000 in just under nine, but neither figure is higher than the 26,730 returns in 2023. Labour’s quarterly returns rate is slightly higher than at any point in the previous parliament, however.
The previous Government used to publish The Irregular Migration to the UK Statistics every quarter (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-statistics) however these reports have now been discontinued!! This data has now been moved and is now included within a more comprehensive report the Immigration system statistics but it would appear that this is only going to be updated annually.
In the meantime are we going to have to rely on Dame Angela Eagle MP to tell us what is going on?