Following weeks of protests and mounting pressure on the UK government, recent polls show that seven in ten believe Sir Keir Starmer is handling migration badly.
The prime minister is facing pressure from some Labour ministers and voters to take a more thorough approach to the small boats and immigration ‘crisis’ that the UK is facing.
Public concern over immigration is ever increasing which has led to protests and a rise in British and English patriotism in the form of campaigns like Operation Raise the Colours.
A recent YouGov poll for The Times found that 71 per cent of voters believe that Starmer is handling the asylum hotel issue badly, including 56 per cent of Labour voters.
Many also believe that immigration and asylum are among the most important issues facing the country, with almost four in ten voters taking this stance.
A survey carried out by the David Hume Institute and the Diffley Partnership, of 2,190 Scottish voters revealed that this sentiment is shared across the UK, with 21 per cent of those who completed the online survey in August believing that immigration is the top issue facing the country.
This is up from 16 per cent in May 2025 meaning that immigration is now a higher priority concern for Scottish voters than the economy and trust in politics.
In an attempt to address concerns from the public and UK authorities, home secretary Yvette Cooper has announced plans to overhaul the asylum appeal system to deport asylum seekers faster.
The government will also begin to put up advertisements in France highlighting a new “one in, one out” treaty, which will send small boat migrants back to France in exchange for individuals who have a right to come to the UK.
Lord David Blunkett, a former Labour home secretary has said the current Labour government needed to take more “radical action” and suggested it was failing to “grip” the issue.
Current cabinet ministers are also growing more concerned about the government’s response as it is decreasing voters trust in the party and placing it in the hands of Nigel Farage and Reform UK whose stance on immigration is considerably harsher.
The leader of Reform UK has indicated that 600,000 asylum seekers could be deported in the first parliament of a Reform government and has suggested that the next UK general election may come earlier than the expected 2029.
Farage announced this along with a five-year plan to detain and deport all migrants who arrive in the UK without permission on Tuesday morning as a news conference in Oxford.
Under the plan, named Operation Restoring Justice, Reform UK would stop anyone who comes to the UK on small boats from claiming asylum and forge deals with countries to return those people.
Starmer is open to securing returns deals with countries like Afghanistan and Eritrea however there are concerns about their humans rights records, but has insisted the government was setting out “serious” solutions to the issue, not “gimmicks”.
Despite the criticism over human rights, Reform have doubled down, with former chairman and current party DOGE head, Zia Yusuf, saying the party is “ready and willing” to work with the Taliban in Afghanistan to return asylum seekers.
Under Farage’s plans, people who arrive on small boats would be arrested on arrival, detained as unused RAF bases and, providing agreements were reached, returned to their countries of origin.
Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch responded on X that “Farage’s ‘immigration plan’ looks v familiar. We set out our Deportation Bill months ago.”
Similarities were also seen with the Conservative’s Rwanda scheme policy introduced in 2022 which came under significant criticism from human rights groups and was scrapped by Labour in 2024.
Featured image via Framalicious / Shutterstock
