The new Labour Government has terminated the controversial Rwanda Plan, sparking hope for a more humane approach to migration management. However, it is also fast-tracking the Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, which mirrors counter-terrorism measures and has already raised civil liberties concerns. Although the full details are pending, the Home Secretary has signaled plans for stricter enforcement, including workplace raids, detention of regulation violators, and swift deportations.

The question remains: does this signal a shift from the previous government’s hostile environment policy or merely its continuation in a different guise? And, crucially, can these policies achieve the promised reduction in net migration, or will they provoke fresh conflicts over immigration’s direction?

In this SSAHE webinar (organised by Josh Findlay, who chaired, Don Flynn, Eleonore Kofman, Angelo Martins Jr, and Nando Sigona), Zoe Bantleman (ILPA) and Nando Sigona (University of Birmingham) offer some initial thoughts on the direction of travel on migration policy of the new Labour government, with introductory remarks by Nira Yuval Davis and Eleonore Kofman.

Thanks to the Institute for Research in Superdiversity (IRis) at the University of Birmingham for hosting the webinar and video.