Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to news that Yashika Bageerathi is to be deported, said:

“It is hard to understand why Ministers and border officials are refusing to apply a bit of common sense in the case of Yashika Bageerathi.

"The Home Office has the discretion to decide when and how deportations take place. And their own guidance says, wherever possible, families should not be deported separately and that teenagers should not be removed from the country shortly before major exams.

"So why on earth are UK Border Staff and Ministers insisting that this 19 year old is deported without her family and just months from her A-Levels?

"Discretion is there for a reason, so they can deal with individual cases in a sensible way. Why not let this teenager get her exams done and have her case handled alongside her family as their own guidance says? Even at this late stage Ministers should intervene and make sure common sense prevails.”

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