Thursday's general election could bring the Rwanda deportation plan to a halt. But campaigners warn Labour against mimicking the Conservatives' hard line on migration.
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00With Labour tipped to enter government, the UK's general election could spell the end
00:07of Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives' controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
00:13Labour wants to scrap the plan which has been deemed unlawful by the UK Supreme Court
00:18and use the money earmarked for it to create a border security command to dismantle migrant smuggling networks.
00:25But a migrants' rights charity is concerned Labour will explore similar deals with other third countries.
00:55This Afghan asylum seeker whose family was persecuted by the Taliban says Rishi Sunak's plan would jeopardise his need for protection.
01:25Irregular arrivals by small boats across the channel only make up 8-10% of migrant arrivals into the UK.
01:44Both Labour and the Conservatives have also vowed to bring net legal migration numbers down.
01:50There has been a surge in overall migration numbers since Brexit came into force in 2020.
01:55But both parties have different approaches on stemming migration.
01:59So the Conservatives would look to restrict the supply of visas and they would do this by putting an annual cap on work and family visa grants each year.
02:09For Labour it's more about restricting the demand for visas.
02:12Opinion polls show that among Conservative voters, immigration is the number one concern.
02:18Among Labour voters, it's not even in the top five priorities.
02:23But the Labour leader Keir Starmer has understood that this is a hot political issue and he has vowed to cut migration numbers into the UK.
02:33But with a country facing labour shortages in key sectors like healthcare, immigration is also part of the puzzle when it comes to restoring an economy that recently came out of a short-lived recession.
02:47Marit Gwin for Euronews in central London.