Fifty-year-old Commonwealth protection clause halts Rochdale gang ringleader deportation

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will announce Monday how she plans to amend the Immigration Act 1971 to deport Shabir Ahmed, jailed for 22 years for grooming gang offences. A transitional clause protecting long-settled Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 blocks his removal despite his British citizenship being stripped after conviction. The government must legislate to change it; Pakistan talks are parallel to any legal change.