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Politics Home | Shabana Mahmood Warns Labour MPs They Cannot “Retreat To Comfort Of Fairytales” On Immigration
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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said reforms to the immigration system are about “compassion and control” as she faces down Labour MPs concerned by the changes.
Speaking at the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank on Thursday, Mahmood said new rules for people coming to the UK sit between the “extremes” of the Greens and Reform UK.
She also warned Labour MPs who plan to oppose her reforms that failing to secure the borders will result in the “nightmare” of Nigel Farage’s Reform winning power.
“They [the reforms] are not an invitation to the fairytale of open borders as Zack Polanski’s revolutionary Green Party demands, and neither are they the nightmare of Nigel Farage pulling up the drawbridge and shutting out the world, narrowing our proud patriotism into crude ethno-nationalism,” she said in a speech.
As part of the reforms, Mahmood announced that earned settlement would increase from five years to 10, arguing that living in the UK should be a “privilege”.
“For those who come to this country and want to contribute to our national life, I am clear they should have a path to settlement and ultimately citizenship. But it is essential that the privilege of living in this country is earned, not automatic.”
The Home Secretary also confirmed a series of changes to the asylum system, saying that the current regime “encourages” asylum seekers to come to Britain.
“Today, seeking refugee status in Britain is more attractive than other countries in Europe.
“The five-year initial period leads almost automatically to settled status. This means refugee status is in effect permanent from day one. This fact encourages other asylum seekers to pass through other safe countries in pursuit of asylum here.”
The government is using secondary legislation to remove the “duty” to provide asylum support. Refugee status will be reviewed every two and a half years, down from five, and if their home country is deemed safe, they will be returned, following the example of Denmark.
Today, 100 Labour MPs have signed a letter to the Home Secretary expressing concern about the new restrictions around earned settlement and refugee status, suggesting a significant backbench rebellion is possible.
It was co-ordinated by Tony Vaughan, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, who said: “We can change our immigration system for the better without forgetting who we are as a Labour Party. You don’t win back public confidence in the asylum system by threatening to forcibly remove refugees who have lived here lawfully for 15 or 20 years. That just breeds insecurity and fractured communities.”
Mahmood announced that migrants seeking settlement must have a clean criminal record, no debt to the taxpayer, a history of work and paying taxes and high standards of English language before they can settle permanently in Britain.
She said that some migrants will be able to qualify for settlement “at or earlier than five years”, including public servants like doctors and nurses, and argued that failing to act would see a “£10bn drain on our public finances”.
“That figure will be paid for by working people in this country. It will mean ever longer waits for three million people in this country on social housing lists and yet more pressure on our National Health Service. It is an affront to the idea of fairness in our migration system.”
Under the Home Secretary’s plans, families of failed asylum seekers will be paid up to £40,000 to leave the UK voluntarily within seven days or face forced removal.
Around 150 families are expected to take part in a trial of this policy, with the aim of rolling it out more widely to save up to £20m.
Mahmood also announced new safe and legal routes, including a “student refugee route” with the first arrivals in autumn 2027.
“This will be the first in a series of new safe and legal routes, which will include a new work route and the expansion of community sponsorship.”
Mahmood also confirmed that she is suspending visa routes to four countries, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, where abuse of visas “has been unacceptably high”.
Labour’s historic defeat to the Greens at last week’s Gorton and Denton by-election, which saw Keir Starmer’s party fall to third place in a seat it had controlled for over a century, has prompted calls by many Labour MPs for the government to be more progressive to help win back voters.
Some Labour MPs had wanted the government to dilute its planned package of reforms to the immigration system as a way of appealing to more left-wing voters.
However, Mahmood argued that the current asylum system is “eroding trust” with voters, and said that restoring order at the borders is necessary, “not a betrayal” of Labour values.
“Hard-working people across this country engage in the daily struggle to make ends meet.
“They see a state that they pay taxes towards, yet it is unable to stop the flow of dinghies across the channel. They see a state that is paying billions towards hotels. It doesn’t look fair because it’s not fair, and it erodes their trust in government.”
She added: “It is our creed as a Labour Party that the states can and must be a force for good. Without the trust of citizens in the state, there is no space for Labour values in any part of government to be realised.
“Restoring order and control at the border is not a betrayal of Labour values; it is the necessary condition for a Labour government to achieve anything it hopes to.”
