With

aim of this paper is to analyze the current state of citizenship in Britain in light of the rise of political discourses and practices that seek to remedy social exclusion. Citizenship involves relationships that encompass social, economic, and cultural positions, legal and institutional forms as well as identity and senses of belonging (Jenson and Phillips 1996; Werbner and Yuval Davis 1999; Jenson 2001; Hobson and Lister 2002; Lister 2003a; Dobrowolsky and Jenson 2004). It consists of multiple dimensions affecting politics, broadly conceived, and policy at various levels. However, here we will limit our purview to citizenship concerns arising out of new efforts to combat ‘social exclusion ’ on the part of the Labour government of Tony Blair. More specifically, we unpack the implications of social exclusion in light of two highly contested areas: i) recent welfare restructuring and ii) im/migration and asylum. Herein lies the irony: while New Labour’s concern with social exclusion is explicit in the former, it is less than apparent in the latter. In this respect, and in others, we expose the limited ways the Blair government deals with social exclusion and citizenship. We consider the repercussions of changing emphases, vis-à-vis social exclusion and citizenship, when it comes to women, racial and ethnic minorities, im/migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and their children. Indeed, we contend that broader readings of social exclusio