Labour scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme on their first day in office (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer is facing growing pressure from his own MPs for a Rwanda-style deportation scheme to deter Channel migrant crossings.
The Prime Minister scrapped the UK’s deal with Kigali on his first day in office, branding it a "gimmick".
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But a surge in Channel crossings has prompted calls for Sir Keir to detain and deport “every small boat arrival” to a third-country if they cannot be sent home.
Labour’s Steve Yemm said this could lead to a “US-style collapse in numbers”.
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Donald Trump hailed a dramatic fall in people crossing America’s southern border after he vowed to deport every illegal immigrant.
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So far this year, 125,000 people crossed into the US, down from 1.6 million last year and a record 2.57m in 2022.
Mansfield MP Steve Yemm pointed to the effect of Donald Trump's tough border policies in the US.
He wrote: “Labour must focus on innovative solutions like return hubs overseas and new bilateral agreements.
“Under those agreements, every small boat arrival would be sent not to a UK hotel but to a third country where they would stay even if their claim was upheld.
“If all 900 arrivals were deported on a Monday, and all 700 on the Tuesday, then how many might arrive on the Friday? Probably, we would see a US style collapse in numbers.”
A Labour MP, who did not want to be named, told The I newspaper: “The Government should just announce a timescale to close the last 200 hotels, and it should be done in months not years – with larger sites being used. The PM must take a personal grip of this too.”
Just 2,330 Channel migrants have been deported during Keir Starmer's first full year in office, compared to 2,516 in the final year of the Conservative Government.
Donald Trump vowed to deport all illegal immigrants (Image: Getty)
In total, just 6,313 small boat arrivals have been returned since the crisis began in 2018.
Labour MP Graham Stringer also heaped more pressure on Sir Keir Starmer by calling on the UK to quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “What you’ve got to remember is most of the people crossing the Channel are young men, they have destroyed their papers before they get here, they’re coming from a completely civilised country in France.
“They’re paying international criminals to get here, and the courts are saying they have a right to stay under the refugee convention, I assume, and possibly other conventions. That doesn’t seem reasonable to me.”
Pressed to confirm whether he was suggesting the UK should withdraw from the ECHR and the Refugee Convention, Mr Stringer replied: “Yes.”
Keir Starmer ruled out quitting the ECHR because it would jeopardise deportation deals and hinder the fight to restore control of Britain’s borders.
The Prime Minister said countries would refuse to sign agreements with the UK “if in the next breath, you’ll say you don’t believe in international law”.
But the Home Office has confirmed it will overhaul how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights - is used in immigration cases.
Ministers will, later this year, bring forward new legislation to “clarify Article 8 rules and set out how they apply in different immigration routes so that fewer cases are treated as ‘exceptional’”.
Asked at a press conference – by the Daily Express - if going further on immigration would require "disentangling ourselves" with the ECHR, Sir Keir Starmer said: "No, I don't think that that is necessary.
"I also remind myself that the international agreements we've signed have given us the basis for the deals that we've struck on illegal migration.
"So the Home Secretary has moved fast, working with other countries to put in place materially improved deals with other countries in relation to migration that would not have been possible if we had been saying at the same time we're about to withdraw from our international obligations.
"You can't strike those deals with other countries to work more closely together on law enforcement, to smash the gangs and to work on returns agreements - which is what we want to do - if in the next breath, you'll say you don't believe in international law."
The number of people claiming asylum hit 111,084 during Sir Keir Starmer's first year in office.
And Home Office records revealed the number of Channel migrants being deported has fallen under Labour.
More asylum seekers are also living in taxpayer-funded hotel rooms, with 32,059 migrants in hotels – up 8% compared to when Sir Keir Starmer’s Government came into office – after a surge in small boat arrivals.
Home Office figures – covering Labour’s first full year in office – show there are still 32,059 migrants living in hotels.
This is up 8% from 29,585 in the year to June 2024.
It comes after a bombshell legal ruling threw Labour's asylum accommodation plans into disarray, with the future of hotels in doubt.
Ministers fear the High Court's decision to grant a temporary injunction to prevent migrants being housed in the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, will open the floodgates to similar legal battles and could lead to more closures.
And the Home Office figures revealed the staggering pressure the asylum system is under.
Some 111,084 people applied for protection in the year to June, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
This is up 14 per cent from 97,107 in the year to June 2024 and nearly double the number in 2021.
The sharp increase was fuelled by a surge in migrants lodging claims after arriving on work and study visas and failed asylum seekers trying their luck after being rejected in Europe, experts said.
Home Office figures show 14,800 people claimed asylum after arriving on a student visa.
Another 12,200 arrived on a work visa, prompting more fears of widespread abuse.
Home Office sources have confirmed they have identified it as a “new route” into the UK and are scrambling to close the loophole.
The most common nationalities among asylum applicants in the year to June 2025 were Pakistani (10.1% of the total), Afghan (7.5%), Iranian (7.0%) and Eritrean (6.7%).
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Shocking analysis revealed 90% of Pakistanis claimed asylum after travelling to the UK on a valid visa, while 87% of Bangladeshi applicants travelled to the UK legally. A further 71% of Indian asylum applicants used a visa to travel to the UK, highlighting widespread fears over the abuse of the UK’s generosity.
By contrast, 84% of Afghans who claimed asylum arrived by a small boat. Some 89% of Eritrean applicants arrived the same way. The asylum crisis cost taxpayers ￡4.76 billion a year in 2024/25, down from a record ￡5.38bn in 2023/24.
But the number of Channel migrants being deported under Labour is falling.
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