We will now be bringing our live coverage of the debate on the Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill to a close. Here's what we heard:

• Home Secretary Yvette Cooper started the debate saying the bill's purpose was to "strengthen UK boarder security which has been weakened in recent years" and go after the "dangerous criminal gangs" that undermine it
• But the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said Labour's track-record on immigration since taking office "did not make for happy reading" and there was a 28% increase in people entering the country illegally compared to the same period 12 months ago
• Our political correspondent, Damian Grammaticas, described the debate a "tricky balancing act" for Cooper, adding that "political point scoring was the order of the day"

Although our coverage is ending, the debate is not. If you want to keep watching, you can switch over to Parliament TV. , external

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

Labour and the Conservatives may have been competing so far in this debate for the mantle of “Best Party to Control our Borders” but it’s worth noting there are other voices too.

The Liberal Democrats have been keen to show they inhabit a different political space. They have been emphasising the need for an immigration and asylum system that “treats people with dignity and respect”.

So their home affairs spokesperson Lisa Smart, says “applications should be processed quickly so those with the right to be here can integrate and contribute,” while returns happen “swiftly”.

She’s critical of the government saying victims of trafficking and modern slavery, who might be forced to come to the UK, will remain “trapped in exploitation” because the legislation does not give them protections they need.

Smart says “the Bill continues the indefensible policy of detaining children for extended periods”.

The Lib Dems would end detention of children for immigration purposes, and reduce its use for adults to “an absolute last resort with a strict 28 day limit”.

Finally, she too says there is a “lack of any serious attempt to improve safe and legal routes, forcing vulnerable people to risk their lives at sea”.

The Lib Dems of course don’t have the ability to force any changes to the legislation, but their pitch is to voters who might want secure borders and, also, what Lib Dems term a “humane” asylum and immigration system.

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

While there’s a lot of sound and fury in this debate much of it seems unable to escape the past.

The Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp has adopted an indignant and angry tone at what he sees in the Bill being debated, saying “it’s shocking”, but repeatedly he’s had to pause, having to “give way” to Labour MPs.

They, unsurprisingly, have been keen to point out his own government’s record on immigration and borders. “Will you apologise” one asks, about the rise in small boat arrivals on the Conservative’s watch.

Philp criticises the government, saying among the deportations they are trumpeting today only a small number arrived by boat. The same of course applied to deportations of Albanians and others when he was in office.

So, when he says scrapping the Rwanda scheme is wrong, another Labour MP leaps up to ask “how many people were removed” under that “so-called deterrent”.

The answer is no forced removals. Only 4 volunteers were sent, as some MPs helpfully shout.

Political point scoring is the order of the day.

How many people have been forcibly removed?published at 18:29 Greenwich Mean Time 10 February

18:29 GMT 10 February

By Lucy Gilder

The Home Office has just released a new advert on X, external showing people being forcibly put on planes, with the message: “we have removed almost 19,000 people including failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and immigration offenders from the UK since July 2024”.

Official figures, external published this afternoon show that 18,987 people have been returned to other countries since July - when Labour took office - up to the end of January.

It says this figure includes both enforced and voluntary returns. It does not include a full breakdown of each category, nor does it say how many returns were of small boat arrivals.

We know that of the 19,000 returns, only 5,074 were classed as enforced returns. This would suggest the remaining returns were voluntary.

The new returns figure is higher than in the same period the previous year but lower than seven-month periods in 2010 to 2016, when returns topped 20,000.

We've just been hearing from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, it's now the turn of Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp.

He starts by saying Labour has now been in office for seven months and their record on immigration in that time "doesn't make for happy reading".

Philp continues by saying there has been a 28% increase in people entering the UK illegally compared to the same period 12 months ago.

Moving onto Yvette Cooper's election promises, Philp says that the policy of housing asylum seekers in hotels was supposed to end - he then goes on to say this hasn't ended, saying there are now 6,000 more asylum seekers in hotels than there were under the previous government.

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

In the opening exchanges, some of the political differences the government has with a few MPs in its own party, and beyond on the left, have been on show.

We’ve had interventions from prominent figures on the left who have concerns about all the focus on cracking down on “criminal gangs” and creating new offences.

Jeremy Corbyn, who was expelled from Labour last year, calls for “safe routes” for refugees, and more of a “recognition of the massive contribution these people will make to our country”.

And the veteran Labour MP, Diane Abbott, warned the home secretary there was a “danger she is sounding like she is trying to stigmatise desperate migrants, rather than build a fair system”.

Most Labour MPs believe it’s politically important the government shows it is taking action to control the borders, but some fear it could also end up alienating progressive supporters who are uncomfortable about measures that could criminalise actions taken by desperate refugees.

Yvette Cooper’s response “it’s governments not gangs choose who enters our country”.

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

Where to pin the blame for the current state of affairs?

"Not on us, but the previous government" is pretty much the focus of Yvette Cooper’s opening remarks.

Yes she’s been talking about the aim of the legislation being debated, "to restore order", to make sure rules are respected, and see those with no right to be in the UK are returned.

But I’ve already lost count of the number of times she’s also looked to the past, and tried to pin the blame for the numbers of arrivals and the state of the immigration and asylum system on the Conservatives.

“The last government completely lost control of our borders” she says. “Net migration soared under the last government”, “criminals were let off and an entire criminal industry was established along out borders with tragic consequences”, “the entire asylum system crashed”.

It’s a tricky balancing act she’s trying to pull off, to saying things aren’t working, but to avoid sharing some of the responsibility for that.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is on her feet, signalling the beginning of the second reading of the government's Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

As a reminder, the bill was introduced on 30 January, but the second reading is the first opportunity for MPs to debate it.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says the purpose of the bill is to "strengthen UK boarder security which has been weakened in recent years" and to go after the "dangerous criminal gangs that undermine our border security".

She adds that the Labour government have started by showing "rules are respected and enforced by transporting staff from the failed Rwanda scheme" - put in place by the last government.

You can follow all the action by pressing watch live at the top of the page. We'll be running this page as stream-only, meaning we won't be providing regular text updates.

Paul Seddon
Politics reporter

Image source, PA Media

While we wait the debate to get under way, we have some more information on what the new powers police would get if the bill is put into force.

The bill would create new offences that, in the style of counter-terror legislation, would aim to prevent crossings from happening in the first place.

This includes a new offence of supplying equipment that could be used for smuggling, such as boat parts and fake identity documents.

There will also be a new offence of endangering lives at sea, carrying a jail term of up to five years.

It would also lower the threshold for police officers to seize migrants' phones in the search for intelligence about who helped them get into the UK.

For those following along, the debate hasn't quite begun yet. The House of Commons is currently hearing the Biomass Energy Generation Funding Statement.

We're expecting the debate on the border security bill to start shortly, and you'll be able to follow along by clicking Watch live at the top of this page. Stay with us.

We're expecting to hear the debate on the border security bill shortly - the draft law would give police and other enforcement agencies broader powers in a bid to help them tackle people smuggling.

Labour argues this will be a more effective way of clamping down on small boat crossings than the previous government’s scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which it scrapped.

It would also formally create a new post of Border Security Commander to act as a link between intelligence agencies, police and border force officials on the issue.

The bill would also permanently lift a ban introduced by the Conservatives in 2023 that barred unauthorised arrivals from claiming asylum.

Labour says this rule worsened the backlog of claims and prevented failed asylum seekers from being removed from the UK – but it has triggered a political row with the Tories.

Image source, PA Media

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says the government needs to show rules are “respected and enforced” in order to “rebuild public confidence in the immigration system”.

Her comments come as the government announced that nearly 19,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and other immigration offenders were deported from the UK between 5 July 2024 and 31 January this year, we have more on this in our previous post.

Cooper says the government has invested “significant additional resource into immigration enforcement and returns” as part of its ‘Plan for Change’ policy.

“I want to pay tribute to all the Immigration Enforcement staff and other officials in the Home Office who strive tirelessly every day to make our returns system work firmly, fairly and swiftly.”

We can now bring you a fresh statement from the Home Office, which says that “nearly 19,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and other immigration offenders” were returned to countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and South America since the election last July.

The Home Office adds that between 5 July 2024 and 31 January this year enforced returns are up 24%, removals of foreign national offenders are up 21% and illegal working raids are up by 38%, compared to the same period the previous year.

This was achieved, the government says, by redeploying 1,000 staff to work on immigration enforcement and “sending a clear signal that those coming here illegally will be returned swiftly”.

As a reminder, earlier the government announced it had arrested hundreds of migrants last month as part of a UK-wide crackdown on illegal working.

The newly released figures come as the government’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is to be debated in the Commons - in its second reading.

Reform is spooking Labour now, toopublished at 16:55 Greenwich Mean Time 10 February

16:55 GMT 10 February

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, EPA

Reform's upward trend in the opinion polls is the crucial political context here. Nigel Farage's party is spooking Labour now, as well as the Conservatives.

Reform – many of whose supporters are drawn to them because of their uncompromising views on immigration - said over the weekend that it now has more than 200,000 members.

Meanwhile Labour officials have noted, and in some cases admired, the theatrical, showy style of President Trump's opening weeks back in the White House: his capacity to illustrate vividly to his supporters and others what he is achieving.

Sir Keir Starmer, to put it gently, is a rather different character, but the UK government is channelling a bit of the White House playbook – and expect more of this to come.

More than 40 countries are being invited to a summit on border security in London at the end of next month.

And there will be more talk too about tackling legal migration. What is known as a White Paper is expected in March or April, where ideas to squeeze the numbers arriving legitimately will be set out.

Immigration is a massive concern to so, so many people - and so it matters in and of itself.

But it matters for a wider reason too: the numbers arriving both legally and illegally are, to many, a visible, expensive daily illustration of state failure and broken promises.

What we are now seeing is a government attempting to show what it is trying to do about it.

• Read Chris's full piece on the government's immigration challenge here

Earlier today, we heard from the government that hundreds of migrants were arrested in January as part of a UK-wide crackdown on illegal working, the government has said.

Enforcement teams raided 828 premises including nail bars, car washes, and restaurants and made 609 arrests - a 73% increase on the previous January.

Vape shops in Cheshire and a grocery warehouse in south London were among the places raided. As well as sharing January's arrest figures, the government published footage of the raids, a decision defended by Home Office Minister Dame Angela Eagle.

"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," she said.

Those arrested made the journey to the UK through a mix of routes, including by crossing the Channel and by overstaying legitimately-granted visas.

Soon, MPs will debate the government's immigration bill, which shadow home secretary Chris Philp has described as a "weak bill that won't stop the boats".

Remember last year's election?

How to cut the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats was a major theme as Keir Starmer and then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak campaigned for votes.

The Conservatives' idea was to send anyone arriving in small boats on a one-way flight Rwanda - but the party was removed before any flights could set off.

Labour pledged to scrap the Rwanda scheme, and have done so. A big part of their plan is to go after the "criminal gangs" who they say drive the flow of asylum seekers.

According to a Commons briefing, the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, external includes new criminal offences of "supplying or handling almost any item to be used in connection with illegal immigration".

It will also, among other measures, give immigration officers and police "new powers to seize unauthorised migrants’ mobile phones".

The Conservatives call it a "weak bill that won't stop the boats". Reform UK is also opposed.

Now, MPs will debate Labour's bill for the first time from around 17:00 GMT - you can watch it live on this page, alongside all the best news lines, comments, and analysis.

Mark Easton
Home editor

The government wants people smugglers treated like terrorists. Mirroring powers in the Terrorism Act 2000, the proposed new law would criminalise "precursor" offences – currently lawful activities which occur before any immigration offence has been committed.

For example, supplying or handling inflatable dinghies and outboard motors could be against the law.

The bill also creates a new crime of endangering another person during an illegal crossing in the Channel. This is to stop those aboard a dinghy refusing assistance.

Immigration enforcement teams would also get new powers to seize mobile phones. Some migrant rights groups criticise measures they say criminalise vulnerable migrants rather than people smugglers.

The bill would repeal most of the Illegal Migration Act 2023, undoing the Conservatives’ Rwanda policy. Instead, Labour’s new Border Security Command would get additional powers.

Because so much of the people smugglers’ operations occur outside the UK, it is unclear how effective the new precursor’ offences will be.

Some have criticised the bill as too narrow, suggesting greater cross-border co-operation and legal routes for refugees are needed.

Sam Hancock
Live page editor

The House of Commons is filling up as MPs gather for the second reading of the government's Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill - or border security bill for short.

A second reading means the bill will be debated in the chamber for the first time. Labour insists it will "make the difference", but the Conservatives have described the bill as "weak".

You'll be able to watch the debate live at the top of this page from around 17:00 GMT, and there'll be regular text updates too.

Before proceedings get under way, we'll bring you a bit of context and some reminders of this proposed legislation - first introduced to Parliament last month. In short, the bill aims to introduce a raft of new offences and counter terrorism-style powers to clamp down on people smugglers bringing migrants across the Channel.

Stay tuned for more.