Surge in immigration raids and arrests across Scotland under Labour

Spike in arrests over illegal working outpaces anywhere else in UK

The Home Office has overseen a surge in the number of immigration raids and arrests across Scotland as part of a UK-crackdown on illegal working since Labour came to power last summer, newly released statistics show.

Last month, there were 39 so-called ‘illegal working’ visits by immigration enforcement officers in Scotland - a 116 per cent increase on the number registered in January 2024, when the Conservatives were in power.

There was an even steeper increase in the number of arrests made in Scotland as a result of the raids, up 262 per cent from just eight in January 2024 to 29 last month. That is the sharpest increase of any nation or region in the UK.

The Home Office data, published on Monday, shows there were 828 visits across the UK last month, up nearly 49 per cent year on year. The number of arrests increased from 352 to 609 - a 73 per cent increase.

There has been a surge in illegal working raids and arrests since Labour came to power, Home Office data shows. Picture: PA | PA

More broadly, between July 5 last year and January 31, there were 285 raids of premises in Scotland, up from 169 in the same period 12 months previously - a 68 per cent increase. The number of arrests also shot up 83 per cent from 103 to 189.

Scottish Liberal Democrats justice spokesperson Liam McArthur said the Labour government must “ensure they balance strictly enforcing the law against gangmasters and people traffickers with a compassionate approach to people”.

He said: "The Home Office has often been crude and heavy handed. If the number of raids in Scotland is increasing, there is all the more need for its approach to be properly scrutinise."

Home secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK government was boosting enforcement to “record levels”, explaining: “The immigration rules must be respected and enforced. For far too long, employers have been able to take on and exploit illegal migrants and too many people have been able to arrive and work illegally with no enforcement action ever taken.

“Not only does this create a dangerous draw for people to risk their lives by crossing the Channel in a small boat, but it results in the abuse of vulnerable people, the immigration system and our economy. ”

It comes as a Home Office minister defended the UK government's decision to publish footage of immigration raids as part of a border security crackdown as she insisted Labour's policy was “compassionate”.

Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle has defended the UK government's immigration policies. Picture: PA | PA

In the wake of polls showing Labour would lose more seats to Reform UK than the Conservatives would, Dame Angela Eagle said it was important to show what the government was doing, with the Home Office detailing the surge in arrests of illegal workers across sites including restaurants, nail bars and car washes.

Video footage released on Monday showed officers raiding properties and escorting those under arrest to the back of vans. Asked about the government's decision to publish pictures and footage of immigration raids, Dame Angela told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “It's important that we show what we are doing and it's important that we send messages to people who may have been sold lies about what will await them in the UK if they get themselves smuggled in.

“They are more likely to be living in squalid conditions, being exploited by vicious gangs. It's important that we get those realities across and it's important that that's done in imagery as well as words.”

Asked whether the policy was in line with Sir Keir Starmer's previous pledge to create an immigration system “based on compassion and dignity”, she added: “I don't believe for one minute that enforcing the law and ensuring that people who break the law face the consequences of doing that, up to and including deportation, arrest, is not compassionate. We have to have a system where the rules are respected and enforced.”

But Sabir Zazai, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, told The Scotsman: “Immigration raids do not stop people seeking safety from needing to survive, nor do they prevent them from being exploited. Dehumanising publicity tactics do absolutely nothing to help the protection of people and will only breed hostility and division in our society.

“People fleeing war and persecution deserve a fair, efficient and compassionate immigration system, and the UK continues to fall far short of this. Proper reform would include safe and legal routes for people seeking protection and meaningful support to help refugees integrate into their communities.”

While some Labour MPs on the left of the party have expressed misgivings with the plans to publish footage from immigration raids, other Labour parliamentarians who represent areas under threat from Reform UK have formed a pressure group urging ministers to go further and faster in its efforts to crackdown on immigration.

The release of the raid data coincides with the UK’ government's Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill being debated in the House of Commons in its second reading this week. The legislation aims to introduce a raft of new offences and counter terrorism-style powers to clamp down on people smugglers bringing migrants across the Channel.

An SNP amendment has called for a visa scheme that would “support Scotland’s demographic and economic needs”. The human rights group Liberty has warned the Bill sets a “dangerous precedent” in bringing in counter-terror-style powers for offences that are not terrorism, adding there are insufficient safeguards to protect people from being prosecuted “needlessly.”