Home Secretary 'won’t back down' over controversial asylum reform as rebels hit out at 'repugnant' plan

Shabana Mahmood has made it clear to Labour colleagues that the party’s survival depends on tackling illegal migration.

Speaking to LBC, she said she has no intention of backing down over the proposals, which will see cash incentives offered to all families whose claims have been rejected to return to their home country.

If they refuse to leave, the Home Office will “escalate” their cases to forcibly remove them from the UK.

However the divisive plans have caused more than two dozen MPs to publicly criticise them, with one senior figure - chair of the women and equalities committee Sarah Owen, calling them “repugnant.”

Asked whether she might consider ‘backing down’ on some of the proposals, Ms Mahmood told LBC: “I don't believe that will be the case because I think what we saw in the House today was broad support from my colleagues across the parliamentary Labour Party for these reforms.

“For the necessity of these reforms, for the substance of these reforms and for the absence of critical need to deliver for the British people.

“That is what my colleagues, the vast majority of my colleagues were talking about today. As I said, not everybody will always agree, but there is broad support for these reforms in the Labour Party, and that is why I believe that they will be realised. “

Labour MPs have been lining up to attack the Home Secretary’s plans to make it harder for people to stay in Britain and claim refugee status, as well as making it easier to deport people with no right to be here.

But she told LBC that there were a “majority” of Labour MPs who understood that only radical reform of the asylum regime would rebuild the broken system.

The opposition has led to fears that the proposals could face a rebellion similar to the one seen when Labour attempted to implement welfare reforms earlier this year.

She said: "As I was making my statement in the House today, it was clear that a majority of my colleagues were supportive of the proposals and understand the need for these changes.

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"Look, I think politics is about making an argument, and that is what I was doing in the House today as I introduced these reforms in Parliament.

"Not everyone will agree. I accept that.

"But I think the majority will, and I think that was what was clear today. And I think the reason the majority will agree is because they can see that this is a broken system.

"It is dividing people across our country. And because they know how vital it is that we make these changes so that we can retain public support for having an asylum system at all. I know the British people are generous, open and tolerant. I want to make sure that we unlock the full extent of that openness and tolerance and generosity.

"And we will do that by having a system that has order and control at its heart and that then enables us to grow and bring more people in through safe and legal routes into this country."

But MPs have hit out at the policy.

Labour MP Nadia Whittome said the government's "pursuing the policy of the far right”.

And Simon Opher said we "should push back on the racist agenda of Reform.”

Yet the Home Secretary insisted she wasn’t trying to be Reform-lite.

She added: "I have not thought for a minute about what any other political party is doing or what any other politician has to say about any of these matters. I'm the Home Secretary.

"I can see a broken system. When people complain to me about the asylum system, they're not indulging in fake news.

"They haven't read some misinformation on social media that's got in their head and now they're spouting some nonsense.

"What they're complaining about is a very real thing. It is a broken system. I've seen it myself. My constituents have been telling me about it for years. I can see the system is dividing people in our country.

"So it's my job as a Home Secretary to come up with solutions and that will fix this broken system, retain order and control, and then also build support for the true compassion of the British people to be unleashed by opening up new safe and legal routes. So what I'd say to my colleagues is look at the totality of the reforms. These are reforms that are underpinned by Labour values of fairness and contribution. They're British values as well. That's why I believe the country can get behind these reforms.

"But they also have compassion at the heart because we want to disincentivise people getting on a boat in the north of France and we want to incentivise people to come through new safe and legal routes instead.”

She also insisted that despite briefings to newspapers, the Government was “never going to take jewellery away from people at the border” and that is not the policy of herself or Labour.

She referenced one case study of a man who was receiving money from his family, driving an Audi, and was staying in a taxpayer funded hotel, but there was nothing that could be done.

The Home Secretary said: "It cannot be right that people who are able to contribute to the cost of their asylum accommodation do not do so.

"So I think it is absolutely fair and proper."