Description
Huge optimism swept through the UK with the election of the first Labour Government in almost two decades, but as the government settles into power it seems as though little has changed. Whilst the tone of political discourse has certainly shifted from an overtly discriminatory one to one associated with good governance, stability and hopefulness, little seems to have changed in the carceral policies that are being advanced by the UK Government. Focusing on the concept of ‘mobility’, this paper studies the policies through which migrants, trans people and working-class people are some of those whose mobility/capacity to move has been particularly policed by both the pre-election Conservative Government and the new Labour Government. By highlighting relative policy continuity between the parties versus a sharp distinction in the language they used in the 2024 General Election campaign, the paper interrogates the carceral policing of minoritised groups’ movement as a fundamental (i.e. common sense) logic of managing crises associated with neoliberalism. It does so by developing critical migration scholarship on bordering with a focus on the policing of the mobility of all groups who do not conform to White, heteronormative and cisgender citizenship models.
