Labour is in a migration trap of its own making

The failure to deport any illegal migrants at all on the first designated flight to France yesterday under the agreement the government struck with France in August may be due to bad luck rather than bad management. This is still bad news for the nation; the smuggling gangs, far from being smashed by a complacent Keir Starmer, will now be airily reassuring clients that their investment is safe because, whatever the Home Office says, they are most unlikely to be sent back to France. However, in the longer term this is much worse news for Labour.

Labour are largely hamstrung here by their own ideology

When the agreement for migrant returns was trumpeted amid manly hugs between Emmanuel Macron and Starmer, anyone who read the small print could see that it was largely meant for show. The num