Immigration
Immigration, asylum, and border control
Based on 9 parliamentary votes
Sub-issues
How Parties Voted on Immigration
Government alignment shows how often each party voted with the government's stated position. Issue-aligned direction shows agreement with the AI-identified supportive stance.
Voted with government positionVoted in issue-aligned direction
Recent Votes
| Vote | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|
MPs voted on whether to reject a Lords amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill — the only remaining point of disagreement between the two Houses. The government argued the amendment was unnecessary given their new asylum policy statement, while supporters of the Lords change wanted it retained as a safeguard. Yes = Support the government rejecting the Lords amendment, trusting the government's asylum policy statement as sufficient without the additional legislative requirement · No = Support retaining the Lords amendment, preferring the additional safeguard to be written into the legislation rather than relying on a policy statement Govt: Aye | 327-95 | 19 Nov 2025 |
Parliament voted on an Opposition Day motion on immigration, brought by the Conservatives to debate and vote on the government's approach to immigration policy. Opposition Day motions allow the opposition to set the agenda and put the government on the record over a contentious issue. Yes = Support the Conservative motion criticising the government's immigration policy, calling for tougher controls or a different approach to managing immigration levels · No = Reject the Conservative motion, backing the Labour government's existing approach to immigration and border control Govt: No | 84-267 | 21 May 2025 |
MPs voted on whether to pass the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill at its final stage in the Commons. This bill overhauls the UK's border security and immigration enforcement powers, and passing it sends it to the House of Lords. Yes = Support passing the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill into law, backing the government's approach to tightening border security and reforming asylum and immigration rules · No = Oppose passing the bill, either because it goes too far on immigration enforcement or does not go far enough, or raises civil liberties concerns Govt: Aye | 315-97 | 12 May 2025 |
Vote on a Conservative amendment (New Clause 14) to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill that would have repealed or significantly curtailed the Human Rights Act 1998, particularly its application to immigration cases such as Article 8 (right to family life) claims used to prevent deportations. The amendment was defeated by the Labour government. Yes = Support repealing or restricting the Human Rights Act to make it easier to deport people, arguing it is misused to block removals · No = Oppose removing Human Rights Act protections, arguing it is a fundamental safeguard and that the Government's own reforms to Article 8 are a more proportionate approach Govt: No | 100-402 | 12 May 2025 |
Vote on New Clause 3 to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which based on the debate context relates to opposition Conservative proposals around immigration control and removals deterrents, contrasting with the government's approach in the Bill. The Conservatives (with 90 Ayes) opposed the Bill's overall direction, arguing it lacks effective removals deterrents like the Rwanda scheme. Yes = Support stronger removals deterrents and stricter immigration controls, as proposed by the Conservative opposition via New Clause 3 · No = Oppose the Conservative amendment, backing the government's existing approach to border security and asylum in the Bill Govt: No | 91-320 | 12 May 2025 |
Vote on New Clause 18, which would have required Parliament to set a cap on the number of asylum seekers and migrants allowed into the UK each year. Conservative MPs argued this would give Parliament democratic control over immigration numbers, while the Labour government opposed it. Yes = Support introducing a parliamentary vote to set an annual cap on immigration and asylum seeker numbers, giving Parliament direct control over migration levels · No = Oppose a statutory immigration cap set by Parliament, arguing it is unworkable, legally problematic, and that the government's existing measures are the right approach Govt: No | 98-318 | 12 May 2025 |
Vote on a Liberal Democrat proposal (New Clause 21) to create safe and legal routes to the UK for people from countries like Eritrea and Sudan, where no such routes currently exist. The Lib Dems argued that without safe routes, vulnerable people are forced to use dangerous channel crossings and criminal gangs. Yes = Support creating safe and legal asylum routes for people from countries where none currently exist, reducing reliance on dangerous crossings · No = Oppose this particular mechanism for creating safe routes, either favouring the government's existing approach or rejecting expanded legal migration pathways Govt: No | 89-400 | 12 May 2025 |
MPs voted on whether to give initial approval to the government's Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which aims to strengthen UK border controls, crack down on criminal people-smuggling gangs using counter-terrorism-style powers, and restore order to the asylum system. Yes = Support the Labour government's approach to tackling illegal immigration through tougher enforcement against criminal gangs and reforming the asylum system · No = Oppose the Bill, either finding it too tough on migrants and asylum seekers, or insufficiently robust compared to previous Conservative approaches Govt: Aye | 335-110 | 10 Feb 2025 |
MPs voted on whether to block the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill from progressing. The bill aims to strengthen UK border security, tackle criminal people-smuggling gangs with counter-terror-style powers, and restore order to the immigration and asylum systems. A 'reasoned amendment' is an opposition attempt to prevent the bill passing its Second Reading. Yes = Support blocking the bill, signalling opposition to the government's approach to border security and immigration reform · No = Support the bill proceeding, backing Labour's plan to tackle illegal immigration, criminal gangs, and restore order to the asylum system Govt: No | 117-356 | 10 Feb 2025 |
How is this calculated?
Government alignment (primary bar) shows how often a party's MPs voted with the government's stated position on this issue. This is the most comparable metric across parties, as it measures the same reference point for everyone.
Issue-aligned direction (secondary bar) shows how often MPs voted in the direction tagged as supportive of this issue by AI analysis. For example, if a vote is tagged “pro-environment”, a Yes vote counts as aligned. This can be misleading when the tagged direction happens to align with opposition amendments rather than government bills.
Why these metrics may differ: Opposition parties often vote against government bills for strategic or procedural reasons, even when they broadly support the policy area. The government alignment metric makes this clearer by showing the actual voting pattern against a consistent reference.
Source: Commons division data from the UK Parliament Votes API. Alignment direction determined by AI analysis of vote stance tags. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.