Labour Fuels 'Small Boats' Panic — Starmer's Hardline Rhetoric Boosts Calls For Mass Deportations

Nesrine Malik argues Britain’s political class and parts of the media have manufactured an immigration crisis by disproportionately focusing on irregular 'small boat' Channel crossings. The piece contends Labour — especially Keir Starmer — amplifies hardline rhetoric that stokes public fear, shifts demand toward extreme measures (including mass deportations), and empowers further-right actors, risking social cohesion. The column triggered an insight identifying an intensifying pattern of mainstream hardline rhetoric in early August 2025.