Mahmood battles backlash from Labour MPs over asylum reforms

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is battling a Labour backlash over plans to “restore order and control” to the asylum system.

Labour backbenchers publicly condemned the “shameful” package, which is aimed at deterring migrants from seeking asylum in the UK and making it easier to remove people with no right to be in the country.

Allies of Ms Mahmood warned that “dark forces” would be unleashed if Labour does not respond to voters’ concerns and tackle the problem.

Ms Mahmood told MPs it was the “uncomfortable truth” that the UK’s generous asylum offer, compared to other European countries, is drawing people to UK shores, and for British taxpayers the system “feels out of control and unfair”.

“The pace and scale of change has destabilised communities. It is making our country a more divided place,” Ms Mahmood said.

“There will never be a justification for the violence and racism of a minority, but if we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred.”

She said the UK was an “open, tolerant and generous” country but “to maintain the generosity that allows us to provide sanctuary, we must restore order and control”.

But a series of Labour MPs challenged Ms Mahmood over the plans, which they said echoed the rhetoric of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Former Labour frontbencher Richard Burgon said the policy “scrapes the bottom of the barrel” and was “a desperate attempt to triangulate with Reform”.

Ian Lavery said that when the Tories and Reform are backing the policies “is it not time to question whether we’re actually in the right place?”.

Stella Creasy said the plans would leave refugees in “a permanent sense of limbo”, and Nadia Whittome said it was “shameful that a Labour Government is ripping up the rights and protections of people who have endured unimaginable trauma”.

Simon Opher said Labour should “stop the scapegoating of immigrants because it’s wrong and cruel”, adding “we should push back on the racist agenda of Reform rather than echo it”.

Ms Mahmood told Sky News the “vast majority of my colleagues in the Labour Party were supportive of the proposals” but acknowledged “not everyone will agree”.

A source close to the Home Secretary said: “There has been a huge amount of engagement with the Parliamentary Labour Party in recent weeks.

“That work will continue as we work with backbenchers to restore order and control and open up safe and legal routes for genuine refugees.

“The crisis at our borders is an existential issue for mainstream parties. If we don’t solve the crisis at our border, dark forces will follow.”

The plans include:

– Cutting the time refugees are initially granted to stay in the UK, from five years to a 30-month “core protection” system, which can only be renewed if it is not safe for them to return.

– Refugees will have to spend 20 years in the UK before being allowed to apply for settled status, up from five years.

– There will be no automatic right to family reunion for refugees under core protection.

– Housing and weekly allowances will no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers and those who can work or have valuable assets will have to contribute to their costs in the UK.

– Families with children could also be subject to enforced returns under measures to remove those with no right to be in the UK.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the measures did not go far enough, adding that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights was necessary to address the problem.

She said: “The fact is, we have looked at this issue from every possible direction, and the reality is that any plan that doesn’t include leaving the ECHR as a necessary step is wasting time we don’t have.”

Mr Farage welcomed the “strong language” from the Home Secretary but asked: “Will it survive her own backbenchers in a vote?”

Responding to Mr Farage’s suggestion that her plan was “an audition to join Reform”, Ms Mahmood told Sky News: “Nigel Farage can sod off. I’m not interested in anything he’s got to say.”

The latest Home Office figures show 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025.

This is the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.

A contributing factor has been the continued flow of small boats across the English Channel, with almost 40,000 people making the crossing so far in 2025.

Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said the reforms “sound tough” but they risk creating more delays and will not fix the real problems in the system.

On the regular reviews of refugee status, he said it would create further chaos and “overwhelm an overstretched system”, leaving families living with years of uncertainty.