Almost 9,000 people arrested and over 1,000 deported in 2025, Home Office says
Good morning. British politics in 2026 has to a large extent been preoccupied with foreign affairs, and Donald Trump’s turbocharged neo-imperialism, but domestic problems remain paramount. At the PLP last night, as Pippa Crerar reports, Keir Starmer sought to justify the amount of time he spends on foreign policy by saying it has a direct link to cost of living problems.
And, with immigration and small boats a key issue for voters, the Home Office is today talking up its record on one aspect of this problem.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has released figures which, she says, shows that raids to catch people working in the UK illegally have reached “the highest level in British history”. The PA Media write-up is a tad less hyperbolic, saying the figures are at their highest level “since current records began in 2019”.
PA reports:
