The home secretary has admitted the politics of migration is “difficult” for Labour as she announced measures to tighten Britain’s asylum system.
Shabana Mahmood outlined major reforms which she said are the only alternative to the “fairy tale of open borders” from the Green Party or the “nightmare of Nigel Farage pulling up the drawbridge and shutting out the world”.
Politics latest: Mahmood to curb asylum seeker support
She admitted that it is a “difficult time” for the Labour Party and is a time “when who we are and what we stand for is contested, sometimes bitterly”.
“Restoring order and control at our border is not a betrayal of Labour values, it is the necessary condition for a Labour government to achieve everything it hopes to,” she said.
Some of the key changes include a new route for student refugees, a new work visa route and a £10,000 incentive per person to leave instead of deportation.
The government has been pushed into a series of humiliating U-turns by its own MPs, but Ms Mahmood insisted Labour MPs are “well aware” of the fact if her government does nothing about migration, others will.
“I am very clear in the argument that I am making that these are reforms that are consistent with Labour values, and if we don’t resolve these problems, others with none of our values will be given the chance to do so instead,” she said.
Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby asked the home secretary whether US President Donald Trump’s criticism of Sir Keir Starmer over the Iran war, and the UK’s immigration system, angers her.
Ms Mahmood said the government will “always prioritise the British national interest”.
“The president will say some things that we agree with and others that we disagree with,” she said.
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The migration reforms include:
• Qualifying period for settlement increased from five to 10 years – with conditions including speaking English as a foreign language to A-level standard
• Some will qualify at, or earlier, than five years, including doctors, nurses and those contributing most to the economy
• This will be retrospective for those already on the route to settlement
• Safe and legal routes available for student refugees opening this autumn, with first arrivals in autumn 2027
• New work visa route
• Expansion of community sponsorship scheme, which allows community groups, charities, faith groups to support resettlement of refugees for first year with housing and helping to integrate
• New legislation to remove the duty to provide asylum support with a power to do so
• Taxpayer-funded accommodation will be reserved for those who have no right to work and would otherwise be destitute
• Law tightened to ensure legitimate deportations cannot be thwarted by human rights and modern slavery legislation
• Appeals system to be reformed so they are heard swiftly
• An incentive payment of £10,000 per person, up to £40,000 per family, to get them to leave voluntarily – based on Denmark’s system
• Visa routes suspended for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan
• Impose visitor visas for Nicaragua and St Lucia to stop “back door” entry into the UK.
