Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O’Flynn

Why is this Labour MP attacking police for enforcing the law?

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Getty images)

The most outlandish political joke of the moment is the idea that the Labour party believes in strong border controls. Keir Starmer gave it a run out in PMQs yesterday, berating Boris Johnson by observing: 

‘Our borders have been wide open pretty much throughout the pandemic.’

Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs select committee, has also been unleashing her trademark owlish looks of disapproval at ministers over an alleged lack of stringency in Covid-related immigration measures. During the Queen’s Speech debate she complained: 

‘For months on end there were no public health border measures in place at all.’

Labour presumably hopes that to be seen outflanking the Tories on the right on immigration, albeit on the narrow and short-term issue of the Covid threat, will go down well among lost red wall voters.

The implication is clear: immigration law should not be properly enforced

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But the truth is that it’s all an act. In fact, the latest idea to take hold among senior Labour politicians is the idea that immigration law should not be applied against people with no legal right to be in the UK. Take shadow cabinet member Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, who this week criticised the police for taking part in a joint operation with immigration enforcement officers in her Tooting constituency.

‘Today in Tooting, a Met Police Team were stopping fast food delivery drivers and checking immigration status under the guise of ‘Covid compliance’,’ she complained, adding: ‘Covid compliance is crucial to stop the spread, but it doesn’t explain why Immigration Enforcement were in attendance.’

In subsequent tweets she went much further, saying: 

‘I certainly disagree with police time being used to prop-up the Home Office’s hostile environment policies…This looks like racial profiling and I am concerned that under the Equalities Act 2010, this may amount to indirect discrimination due to its disproportionate impact on ethnic minority groups.

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