Rachel Reeves tells illegal immigrants: 'We are coming after you'

The Chancellor has warned illegal immigrants "we are coming after you" after hundreds of people were arrested in raids on workplaces.

Immigration enforcement teams made 609 arrests after raiding 828 premises in January - a 73% rise on the same period last year.

An Indian restaurant in Humberside was among the 56 places in Yorkshire, northern Lincolnshire and the North East targeted. Seven people at the restaurant were arrested. Another four were detained.

On a visit to Leeds for National Apprenticeships Week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the raids would send a message to those arriving in the UK illegally: “We are coming after you, we will find you - and we will deport you.”

She said employers “exploiting workers, paying below the wages expected and using illegal migrants [have] no place” in the UK.

More than 800 people were deported from the UK in January on four of the “biggest return flights in the UK’s history," the Home Office said.

It comes as a group of more than 40 MPs representing Red Wall constituencies in traditional Labour heartlands put pressure on the government to crack down on immigration.

Last year’s election saw the party win back many Red Wall seats from the Conservatives in areas such as Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, Bassetlaw and Penistone and Stocksbridge.

Bassetlaw MP Jo White said the group is regularly meeting ministers “to ensure they know what the priorities are” across the Red Wall.

And with Reform UK biting at Labour’s heels in recent polling, she believes immigration is the priority for constituents in Red Wall seats.

“My constituents have a great sense of fairness and they get angry when they see those nail bars and car washes and know business owners are not paying taxes and exploiting people coming on small boats and lorries,” she said.

But Labour’s attempts to bolster its messaging on immigration have led to accusations by a senior MP that the party is “pretending to be Reform”.

One advert on Facebook, paid for by Yorkshire and the Humber Labour Party, uses Reform UK’s signature turquoise color scheme to boast about the number of deportations carried out by Labour.

The Yorkshire and the Humber Labour Party branch runs its own Facebook page about Labour’s action on illegal migration, called UK Migration Updates.

ITV News has contacted the Labour Party for a response.

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