Minister suggests Shabana Mahmood will use visa threats to deport Rochdale grooming gang leader to Pakistan – UK politics live | Politics

Good morning. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will be in the House of Commons for most of the afternoon and will feature in much of the main news today. MPs are debating the second reading of the immigration and asylum bill, meaning Labor MPs who oppose his plans may speak out at some point. (His most controversial proposal concerns extending the period in which migrant workers can apply to stay indefinitely. [ILR]and this not actually part of the billbut it would be surprising if the ILR were not brought up.) We are also awaiting a statement from the Home Office on security in light of the murder of Ann Widdecombe. Like Aletha Adu Police arrested a man on suspicion of murder and said there was no evidence at this stage that the murder was politically motivated, according to reports. But that didn’t stop Nigel FarageThe Reform UK leader is doing exactly that.

Mahmood will also give MPs details of how he plans to change the law so Rochdale grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed can be deported.

Ahmed, a former joint British-Pakistani national, was stripped of his British citizenship and was recently released from prison after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence for 30 child rape offences. Victims were told they would be deported upon release because their British citizenship had been revoked. But in fact this is not possible because under the Immigration Act 1971 there is an exemption for people like Ahmed who arrived in the UK before 1973.

When the government first indicated it would change the law to get rid of this exemption, the Conservative Party said that alone would be pointless as Pakistan had already said it would not take Ahmed back. They said the government should stop issuing visas to Pakistan unless they agreed to be deported.

Today it appears that Mahmood will adopt this approach. Catherine AtkinsonThe Ministry of Justice’s minister for victims was giving an interview this morning and when told on the Today program that Pakistan had refused to take Ahmed, he replied:

I understand the home secretary will need to make further statements on this issue later today.

He has made it clear that this government will take action to remove Shabir Ahmed from office, and we have seen the success he has had in removing Shabir Ahmed in previous cases.

I think he threatened visa penalties for Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo if they didn’t take back illegal immigrants. And four months later, all three began collaborating.

And at another point he said:

There have been previous negotiations in which countries refused to take back foreign national criminals. And Shabana managed to secure these returns.

Asked whether Britain would be willing to extradite some political opponents to Pakistan as part of a deal that would secure Ahmed’s deportation, Atkinson said:

I don’t know what the Home Secretary will announce today, but he has a strong track record of seeing progress where people have previously said things were not possible.

Here is the agenda of the day.

11.30: A lobby briefing is being held in Downing Street.

14.30: Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood answers questions in the House of Commons.

15.30: Officials from the Crown Estate and Royal Household give evidence to the Commons public accounts committee about the use of Crown Estate properties

After 15.30: A Home Secretary is expected to make a Commons statement on the security of politicians. Politico reports.

16.40: Culture secretary Lisa Nandy gives evidence to the Commons culture committee on the renewal of the BBC contract.

Afternoon: Mahmood opens the debate on the second reading of the immigration and asylum bill.

20:00 in the evening: Andy Burnham takes questions from Labor MPs at a special caucus event.

And Keir Starmer is in Paris today, where he and French President Emmanuel Macron are co-chairing a meeting of a coalition of Ukraine’s willing allies.

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