Migration and asylum under Labour

This paper examines the migration agenda of the Labour government in its first year in office. It situates Labour’s White Paper Restoring Control over the Immigration System (2025) within the legacies of Brexit and the Conservative “New Plan for Immigration,” highlighting continuities and ruptures. Drawing on official statistics, policy documents, and independent analyses, Sigona analyses five priorities: combatting “illegal work,” reforming the “broken asylum system,” “smashing the gangs,” cutting net migration, and promoting “British jobs for British workers”. He argues that Labour’s policies reflect a politics of reaction shaped by populist pressures, anti-immigration riots, and Reform Party influence.