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Minister suggests Home Office will use visa threats to deport Rochdale grooming gang leader to Pakistan
Good morning. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will be in the Commons for much of the afternoon and she is involved in several of the main news stories in the mix today. MPs are debating the second reading of the immigration and asylum bill, meaning that those Labour MPs opposed to her plans may speak out at some point. (Her most controversial proposal is about extending the amount of time migrant workers have to wait until they can apply for indefinite leave to remain [ILR], and that is not actually part of the bill, but it would be surprising if ILR does not come up.) We are also expecting a Home Office statement about security, in the light of the murder of Ann Widdecombe. As Aletha Adu reports, the police, who have arrested a man on suspicion of murder, have said at this point there is no evidence to suggest the killing was politically motivated. But that has not stopped Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, doing exactly that.
And Mahmood is also due to give MPs details of how she plans to amend the law so that the Rochdale grooming gang leader, Shabir Ahmed, can be deported.
Ahmed is a former British-Pakistani joint national who has now had his British nationality revoked and who has recently been released from jail after serving ۱۴ years of a ۲۲-year sentence for ۳۰ child rape offences. Victims were told that, because his British nationality had been revoked, he would be deported on his release. But in fact that is not possible because under the Immigration Act ۱۹۷۱ there is an exemption for people who, like Ahmed, came to the UK before ۱۹۷۳.
When the government first indicated that it would change the law to get rid of this exemption, the Tories said that, on its own, this would be pointless because Pakistan has said that it will not take Ahmed back anyway. They said the government should stop issuing visas to Pakistan unless it agreed to his deportation.
Today it sounds as if Mahmood will adopt this approach. Catherine Atkinson, the victims minister at the Ministry of Justice, was giving interviews this morning and on the Today programme, when it was put to her that Pakistan was refusing to take Ahmed, she replied:
I understand that the home secretary will be having more to announce on this later today.
She has been absolutely clear that this government will take action to see Shabir Ahmed removed, and we’ve seen the success that she has had when it comes to removals in previous cases.
I think she threatened visa penalties for Angola, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo unless they took back illegal immigrants. And four months later, all three were co-operating.
And, at another point, she said:
There were previous negotiations where countries refused to take back foreign national offenders. And Shabana was able to secure those returns.
Asked if the UK would be willing to return some political dissidents to Pakistan as part of a deal to secure the deportation of Ahmed, Atkinson replied:
I can’t get ahead of what the home secretary will be announcing today, but she has a strong track record on being able to see progress where people previously have said things weren’t possible.
Here is the agenda for the day.
۱۱.۳۰am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
۲.۳۰pm: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
۳.۳۰pm: Officials from the Crown Estate and the Royal Household give evidence to the Commons public accounts committee about the use of Crown Estate properties
After ۳.۳۰pm: A Home Office minister is expected to make a Commons statement on the security of politicians, Politico is reporting.
۴.۴۰pm: Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, gives evidence to the Commons culture committee about the BBC charter renewal.
Afternoon: Mahmood opens the debate on the second reading of the immigration and asylum bill.
۸pm: Andy Burnham takes questions from Labour MPs at a private hustings event.
And Keir Starmer is in Paris today, where he and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, are co-chairing a meeting coalition of the willing group of Ukraine alllies.
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