Lee Anderson tore into Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions, accusing him of misleading Parliament with “suspicious” deportation claims and demanding he “answer the question”. The Reform UK MP for Ashfield challenged the Prime Minister over his repeated assertion that 24,000 people had been removed from the UK since Labour came to power. Mr Anderson said: “This Prime Minister keeps telling his gullible backbenchers… that he’s deported 24,000 people… but he won’t say who these people are.”

He continued: “It’s my guess that these are people that came on work visas, students – and they are simply overstayers. But I’m willing, Mr Speaker, to be proved wrong if he can answer one simple question: how many of these people that he’s deported are failed asylum seekers that came on small boats on the back of lorries? Answer the question, Prime Minister.”

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Starmer’s stepdown represents a victory for The Express who led a crusade to reverse Labour’s cruel stance.

In response, Sir Keir said: “I’m very proud that we’ve removed over 24,000 people.

“That’s the highest record for nearly 10 years.

“We’re taking other measures to get back control of our borders, including the Borders Bill, which gives our law enforcement enhanced powers.”

He added: “What did his party do? What did he do? He voted against them. But I’ll tell you why he voted against them – because they don’t want to fix this problem. Because it benefits them. It benefits them not to fix it. Party before country.”

According to the Home Office, 6,339 of the 24,103 people removed from the UK between July 2024 and March 2025 were enforced returns.

The remaining 17,764 left voluntarily, including voluntary returns, voluntary departures and assisted returns.

No official breakdown has been provided showing how many of those removed were failed asylum seekers who arrived via small boats.

The Government has pledged £33 million to tackle the criminal gangs behind small boat crossings and is discussing new “returns hubs” in countries including Albania and Serbia to process failed asylum seekers