The statement, coordinated by the Labour Campaign for Free Movement and the left-leaning Labour group Momentum, has been signed by seven Labour MPs – Nadia Whittome, Diane Abbott, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Clive Lewis, Jon Trickett, Brian Leishman and Steve Witherden – as well as four ex-Labour MPs who now sit as independents, and four of the party’s peers.
The statement also criticised ministers for highlighting the number of people being deported from the UK, with a Home Office publicity blitz last week using footage and images showing people being removed on planes.
Earlier this month Labour launched a series of adverts with Reform-style branding and messaging about how many people the government had deported, including a series from a group called UK Migration Updates.
A group of more than 900 Labour members and trade unionists, including MPs and peers, have accused the government of copying the “performative cruelty” of the Conservatives in its migration and asylum policy.
In a joint statement, they singled out the Home Office’s decision, revealed last week, to refuse citizenship to anyone who arrives in the UK via “a dangerous journey” such as a small boat over the Channel.
