Huge flaws emerged today in Labour’s latest toothless plan to combat the small-boats crisis.
New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said countries that refuse to ‘play ball’ and take back migrants could face curtailed access to visas.
She announced she had ‘reached an agreement’ with her counterparts from the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing alliance to boost the return of foreign nationals who ‘have no legal basis to remain in any of the partner countries’.
However, it later emerged that restrictions on visas would be imposed only by Britain – and not by the US and other major economies which signed the deal.
The Home Office said the deal would lead to ‘much closer working’ but was unable to say what it would mean in practice. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused Ms Mahmood of ‘shameless spin in her first week on the job’.
