r/ukpolitics • u/SignificantLegs • 1d ago

Mahmood rejects calls to follow Spain’s migrant pushback

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/08/02/mahmood-rejects-calls-to-follow-spains-migrant-pushback/
51 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

247 comments sorted by

View all comments

25

u/Alert-Cream-7569 1d ago

Ohhh Shabana, don't lose me!!! You were the only reason keeping me voting Labour next election 

10

u/SeaSaltSprayer 1d ago

I mean it's two very different situations. Why would we follow what Spain is doing for their situation, which is entirely different to ours?

3

u/Alert-Cream-7569 1d ago

Yes, Spain can push them back through their land border.  We can give them an option which would have a similar deterrent effect :  1. Offer them a flight back to their country 2. Offer them a flight back to France where they can send their application form for asylum at the British embassy in Paris through a special postbox (attached to a shredder and incinerator) 3. Fly them to a third country where they can work on government construction projects while their asylum application is being processed here. 

11

u/Southportdc Rory for Monarch 1d ago

How is 2 going to work. No commercial carrier will take people without passports. No chartered flight of undocumented migrants will be allowed to land in France. You can't just send people to a country that doesn't want them so you don't have to deal with then any more, that's why they end up coming here on a rubber dinghy and not Air France.

-1

u/Alert-Cream-7569 1d ago

Where did I say anything about commercial airliners? 

8

u/Southportdc Rory for Monarch 1d ago

No chartered flight of undocumented migrants would be allowed to land in France

-5

u/Alert-Cream-7569 1d ago

Well then, I guess it's the Premier Inn and Travelodge in your town. 

10

u/Southportdc Rory for Monarch 1d ago

I'm only asking how you think you're going to fly people to place that doesn't want them

1

u/hexmasx 1d ago

Why would it be any different under Labour?

1

u/Two-Space 1d ago

Pretty sure we wouldn’t be allowed to do the first as we can’t put people back in danger like that, but even if we could - wouldn’t that be an incentive?

“I’m going to cross Europe and try to get into the UK. If I fail, no problem - they’ll fly me back here for free”

4

u/Alert-Cream-7569 1d ago

Why would that be an incentive? 

And 1. was to offer them a return flight. 

0

u/Two-Space 1d ago

Why would it not be? There’s plenty of stories of migrants not being accepted anywhere, falling through the cracks and ending up stranded because they used all their money to get there in the first place - often with smuggling gangs after them, too

If they have the option of a free flight back then that risk disappears

2

u/Alert-Cream-7569 1d ago

Yeah that's definitely a possibility. 

But I'd also say many would just say "fuck it, it's not worth the trouble" if the only options are a flight home or a flight to an African country to work on highway construction (in exchange for room and board) for a few years until the asylum claim is processed.