Robert Jenrick challenges Andy Burnham to ‘put pressure’ on Pakistan to see freed grooming gang ringleader deported

Robert Jenrick has challenged Andy Burnham and Labour to “put pressure” on Pakistan to force the deportation of a freed grooming gang ringleader.

Speaking to GB News, the Reform Economics Spokesman questioned whether the expected successor to Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister “really meant” his call for Shabir Ahmed to be removed from the country.

Ahmed, 73, was freed today after serving 14 years for the rape and sexual abuse of young girls, but cannot currently be deported from the UK.

He was stripped of his British citizenship following his 2012 conviction, leaving him with Pakistani nationality.

However, Ahmed has avoided removal under the protections in the Immigration Act 1971, which grants certain rights to people who arrived in the UK before 1973 and have lived in the country for at least five years.

“This man should be deported and should never walk the streets of this country ever again. Full stop,” Mr Jenrick said.

The Reform MP’s statement joined a chorus of politicians calling for the ringleader to be removed from the country.

Among them was Andy Burnham, the presumptive next Prime Minister, who wrote on X: “Like everyone, I want this vile criminal out of the country. Victims must come first.

“I will ask the Home and Foreign Secretaries to review all possible options - and they should consider nothing is off the table.”

“Fair play to Andy Burnham for putting out that statement,” Mr Jenrick said, but added that he was sceptical of the Manchester Mayor’s commitment.

“Does he actually mean it? Does he mean that nothing is off the table?”

The Reform MP argued that, if Mr Burnham becomes Prime Minister, he should “use levers” of British state power to force Pakistan to accept Ahmed's return.

“I'll tell you what we might need to do to get this man out of our country. He (Mr Bunrham) might need to phone up Pakistan.”

Mr Jenrick insisted Islamabad should be told: “Take him (Ahmed) tomorrow, or you're not going to get a penny in foreign aid from this country and I'm instructing the Home Office to stop issuing visas.

“Use the actual levers that this country has to put pressure on them.”

The Reform MP also renewed his call for Britain to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, arguing it could frustrate attempts to deport foreign criminals.

“If he goes to the courts and says, 'I can't be deported because of my rights under the ECHR', it's another reason why we've got to leave the ECHR, because men like this – monsters – should never be walking the streets of this country.”

Mr Jenrick also despaired that Ahmed would be housed in taxpayer-funded secure accommodation following his release.

“The children whose lives he desecrated enjoy no such luxury,” he said.

“It sometimes feels that the state is on the side of the bad guys.”