Labour’s Reform copycat strategy plays into Farage’s hands

The Home Office has released footage of groups of people being escorted onto planes in order to be deported from this country. This Labour Government’s brazen, outrageous attempt to paint itself as ‘tough’ on immigration is the latest desperate response to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party rising to rival Labour in the polls. And it shows us a Labour Party that has sunk to depths that shock even those of us who have long abhorred its stance on migration.

But it also shows that the Party still hasn’t learned a crucial lesson – that this vile race to the hard-right only has one winner, and it isn’t them. When I saw the blurry footage of people being led up the steps to a plane by security guards in hi-vis vests, what I was watching turned my stomach. There on the screen, being broadcast for all to see, was nothing less than lives being torn apart – people being ripped from their families, communities, and places they had chosen to make their home.

This wasn’t shown in the video, but the information released alongside it by the Home Office said that around one in 10 people being deported were in some way restrained – for example using handcuffs, waist restraints and leg restraints. Some had to be physically escorted onto the plane. Just imagine, for a moment, how distressed and scared you would be in that moment – being forced onto a plane taking you to a country where you might fear violence or persecution.

Perhaps you’re gay in a country where gay people are routinely attacked. Or maybe you fled an abusive husband and you’re about to be returned to a place where he’ll be able to find you. You came to the UK believing it would be a place of safety – but instead, you’ve been arrested, locked up, and forced onto a plane against your will. And for some, the worst moment of your life has been filmed and broadcast for all to see.

Those involved in this theatre of cruelty should be deeply, deeply ashamed. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. To reduce human beings to props, in order to act out so-called ‘toughness’ and – what – gain a couple of points in opinion polling? Every single member of this Labour government should be searching their consciences and asking themselves if this is what they came into politics to do.

The bitter irony is, this grubby little performance won’t even do what Labour think it will. They should know by now that a decade of pandering to Farage’s anti-migrant scaremongering hasn’t done them any good. All it has done is legitimise an extreme, fringe voice in British politics, allowing Farage and his cronies to paint themselves as agents of common sense, instead of what they really are.

They’re snake-oil salesmen in the pocket of billionaires and big business, intent on dismantling protections for workers and scheming to sell off our NHS, all the while pointing the finger at people who have come here to live, work and become part of our communities. Following Farage to the right hasn’t worked for Labour before, and it won’t now. Their infamous ‘Controls on Immigration’ mugs in 2015 – which immortalised one of Ed Miliband’s five main campaign pledges in ceramic form – were an embarrassment then, and didn’t get them any closer to winning the election.

The reason is simple: if you’re someone who believes that migrants are to blame for our country’s problems, you’re going to vote for the real anti-migrant party – Reform – not the ones simply trying to imitate them. By aping Reform’s sentiment on migration, all Labour are doing is sending a message that migration is a problem. That’s just plain cowardice – not least because it’s simply not true.

Keir Starmer knows, for example, that we have a declining birth rate and an ageing population – meaning that we rely on people coming here from abroad to fill jobs, pay taxes and contribute to our society. Migration makes our culture rich and our communities vibrant. Put simply, migration is good for this country – and it’s time more politicians had the guts to say it. That also means being honest about the real source of our problems: an economic system that has allowed the ultra-wealthy to siphon off increasing sums of money at the expense of the rest of us.

Landlords hike the rent every few months while tenants struggle to put food on the table. Water companies charge extortionate bills while pouring sewage into our rivers and seas. Global corporations paying poverty wages, and taking their profits offshore. Public services crumbling because they’ve been chronically underfunded. Until our leaders are brave enough to deal with the real forces draining money out of our communities, people will continue to look for someone to blame. And people like Farage will continue to sell them the lie that migrants are the cause of all their ills.