Britain's new Labour government scrapped the much-discussed Rwanda deal. But on May 16, the Conservative government signed a SOP agreement with the Bangladesh government to send back failed Bangladeshi asylum seekers. There is deep anxiety among the thousands of Bangladeshis and their relatives who will be covered by the agreement to repatriate failed Bangladeshi asylum seekers under the new government.

The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on return was signed between Bangladesh and the UK at the first meeting of the Joint Working Group on Home Affairs at the British Home Office in London. 

Regarding this agreement, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh appointed in London said in a statement that the good news is that Bangladesh is not even among the top ten countries in terms of the number of undocumented citizens in the UK.

Earlier, Britain made a repatriation agreement with the Albanian government.

The Telegraph reports that 11,000 Bangladeshis have applied for political asylum in Britain from March last year to March this year.

According to the report, 11,000 Bangladeshis came to Britain in the last year on student, worker, or tourist visas. They have since applied for political asylum and are trying to settle permanently in Britain. Only five percent of those who applied for political asylum were successful, the report said.

Commenting on what the new government can do in the case of political asylum seekers, Councillor Md Islam, chair of the Labour Group in Croydon Council, said, "I don't see any possibility of the new government making any changes in the written agreement with the previous government. 

Although exact statistics are not available, almost 2,000 Bangladeshis are living in Britain without valid documents. They were assured of their legitimacy in a post-Brexit scenario. At that time, many people thought that the economy would benefit if the old illegals were legalised.

In this regard, Luton's Liberal Democrat Party leader, Mahbubul Karim Suyed, told the Daily Dazzling Dawn that the government is talking about imposing new strictures far from legalising illegal immigrants. Thousands of people who came on various work visas, including care visas, are unemployed. All in all, ordinary people, including immigrants, are going through the worst time in Britain in the last decade.

Barrister Nazir Ahmad, principal barrister of Lincoln Chambers Solicitors in London, said that according to the agreement, the Bangladesh High Commission will assist the British authorities with the emergency travel documents of those involved. In many areas, the fear of being caught on a Friday and put on a Sunday flight cannot be dismissed. The home office will try to take advantage of the weekend. Many bona fide applicants will suffer as a result of this agreement.

Commenting on this matter, the Principal of London Chancery Solicitors, Barrister Md. Iqbal Hossain, said that if the new government starts using new fast trucks to send back Bangladeshi failed asylum seekers, it will be very terrible for Bangladeshis.