This week, I was granted an Urgent Question on the latest Jamaica deportation flight. I am deeply concerned by the Government’s increased use of mass deportation flights in the run-up to Brexit. Mass deportations are fundamentally wrong and have been known to bundle people out of the country without due process. They are also prohibitively expensive. As was the case with the flight back in February this year, many onboard will have lived in the UK since childhood and will not have any friends or family in Jamaica.

I was pleased to hear that 91 prominent public figures have written to airlines known to have previously worked with the Home Office to deport people, urging them to decline to operate the flight on the 2nd December and pause deportation flights to Commonwealth countries for the foreseeable future.

On the 30th November, I raised an Urgent Question in Parliament, calling on the Home Secretary to offer a statement on the scheduled mass deportation by chartered plane to Jamaica. Unfortunately, I did not receive a positive response from the Home Office Minister, who ignored straightforward questions about whether those on the flight had received legal advice and proper safeguarding practices had been followed. I can only assume this means they haven’t.

I will continue to campaign against the use of mass deportation flights and this Government’s hostile environment policies.