Overview

• In a Spectator interview, the shadow justice secretary endorsed holding asylum seekers in camps he described as "rudimentary prisons" rather than cabin sites.
• He welcomed Nigel Farage’s mass deportation plan but urged Conservatives to go further, rejecting any initial exemptions for women and children as open to exploitation by smugglers.
• He outlined levers to drive net emigration, including an annual cap on arrivals, barring work‑visa holders from benefits and state housing, extending the wait for settlement to 10 years, and prioritising high‑contribution migrants.
• He attacked the Conservative‑era points‑based immigration system as the worst policy mistake of his lifetime and said legal migration has strained public services more than illegal arrivals.
• His intervention increases pressure on Tory leadership as Labour’s Keir Starmer reiterated that the government will not take the UK out of the ECHR.