Working-class Brits will ‘seek solace in Farage’ if Labour fails to get a grip on migration, Home Secretary warns

Addressing the Labour conference, Shabana Mahmood warned that these communities will move away from traditional Labour values and likely adopt Nigel Farage's populist vision for the UK if her party fails to tackle migration head on.

“They will turn towards something smaller, something narrower, something less welcoming, and the division within this country will grow," she said.

She added: “So, the challenge we now face is this, not just to win the next election, but to keep the country together and to fight for our belief in a greater Britain, not a littler England.

“That work begins at our borders, where we must restore order and control.

“We will always remain a country that gives refuge to those who are fleeing peril, but we can only be open to the world if we are able to determine who comes in and who must leave. It is clear there is more work to be done.”

Read more: Mahmood wants migrants to "prove their worth to Britain" as condition for remaining in UK

Read more: Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood warns Far Right rhetoric ‘getting out of control’

It comes after at least 150,000 far-right protesters took to the streets of London earlier this month for the Tommy Robinson-led 'Unite the Kingdom' rally.

She described participants of the protest as “heirs to the skinheads and the P***-bashers of old”.

“Just days into this job, on the 13th of September, 150,000 people marched through London,” she said.

Ms Mahmood added: “They did so under the banner of a convicted criminal and a former BNP (British National Party) member. While not everyone was violent, some were, 26 police officers were injured as they tried to keep the peace.

She continued: “And while not everyone chanted racist slogans, some did. Clear that in their view of this country, I have no place.

“It would be easy to dismiss this as nothing but an angry minority, heirs to the skinheads and the P***-bashers of old, and make no mistake, some were.

“But to dismiss what happened that day would be to ignore something bigger, something broader, that is happening across this country. The story of who we are is contested.”

Elsewhere in the speech, she vowed to stop illegal boat crossings and the use of migrant hotels, which she described as a "totem of the Tory legacy that has done so much to divide our country".

She told the conference they "may not always like what I do" and that "assumptions and legal constraints" will have to be scrutinised, and vowed to "break" the business model of people-smugglers.

But she said the country must control its borders to make the UK an "open, tolerant and generous country", adding she would do "whatever it takes".

The Justice Secretary also vowed to tackle legal migration head on, warning more than 2.6 million more people entered the UK than left between 2021 and 2024.

She claimed some of this down to "widespread abuse of Boris Johnson's health and social care visa, which saw 710,000 people arrive here".

"Far too many" have later been allowed to enter the "black economy", Ms Mahmood said.

She went on to confirm her plans to change indefinite leave to remain.

Under the plans, migrants who want to stay in the UK will have to learn English, have a clean criminal record and volunteer in their community in order to remain.

"Time spent in this country alone is not enough," she said, adding: "Just like my parents, you must earn the right to live in this country for good."

Those wanting to stay will also mean making National Insurance contributions, and "not taking a penny in benefits", Ms Mahmood added.

The changes comes after Nigel Farage's Reform UK said they would make migrants reapply for new visas rather than offering them ILR after 5 years in the UK.

Sir Keir Starmer said that Reform's policy was "racist" - but ILR reforms are still being made by his Government.