The UK government is preparing to change immigration law so Shabir Ahmed, identified as the leader of the Rochdale grooming gang, could be removed from Britain despite a legal protection that currently blocks his deportation. Ministers have also left open the possibility of trying to send him to a third country if Pakistan refuses to accept him. The case matters because it has become a test of whether the government can remove serious foreign offenders in high-profile cases while still preserving wider protections for long-term residents.

Ahmed arrived in the UK in 1967 and is currently shielded by Section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971, which protects some Commonwealth citizens who settled before 1973. He was released this month after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence following convictions in 2012 for 30 child sex offences, and the proposed amendment would let the home secretary set aside that protection for serious crimes such as child grooming, terrorism and human trafficking. MPs backed the wider Immigration and Asylum Bill by 264 votes to 90, but deportation is still not guaranteed because Pakistan has reportedly said it will not take Ahmed back.