Home secretary Shabana Mahmood to urge Labour left to back hardline immigration crackdown as she warns against Reform and Greens in major speech
Shabana Mahmood will warn MPs on her party’s left to support tough immigration reforms, while warning that the size of arrivals on small boats “brings fear”.
It comes as it begins to implement sweeping changes that will see asylum seekers who break the law or work illegally be kicked out of government-funded accommodation and lose financial support.
The home secretary will say his reforms to the asylum system and permanent settlement are “not a betrayal of Labor values” but rather “the embodiment of them” as he battles criticism of the crackdown. The controversial changes face significant opposition from campaigners as well as dozens of Labor MPs, with some warning the party is in danger of becoming “pro-Reform”.
Ms Mahmood doubled down on plans to make refugee status temporary and introduce much longer waiting periods for permanent residence in the UK after Labor came in for a humiliating third place in the Gorton and Denton byelection. The Greens, who called Ms Mahmood’s plans “extreme” and “inhumane”, won the seat, while Reform came second.
Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of the Refugee Movement, accused the home secretary of “bullying refugees for a rise in the polls” rather than tackling real problems. Mubeen Bhutta of the British Red Cross warned Ms Mahmood: “There is little evidence that making life difficult is stopping people forced to flee their homes from coming to the UK.”
In her speech on Thursday, Ms Mahmood will say Labor can navigate a path between Reform leader Nigel Farage’s “lifting the drawbridge and shutting out the world nightmare” and Green leader Zack Polanski’s “open borders tale”.
Addressing irregular immigration, Ms Mahmood adds: “If we cannot tackle such visible failure, what can the state achieve? Our belief as Labor is that the state can and should be a force for good. So without citizens’ trust in the state, there is no room for Labor values to be put into practice – anywhere in government.”
The number of people arriving in the UK on small boats will rise by 13 per cent annually to 45,774 in 2025, although the number is still below the peak in 2022.
Figures released last week show more than 100,000 people sought asylum in the UK last year; While this figure is down slightly from the previous year, it is still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Net migration to the UK has fallen by two-thirds in the 12 months to June 2025 due to a huge fall in the number of people coming to the UK for work or education. Net migration was estimated at 204,000, down 69 per cent from 649,000 in the previous year, the lowest annual figure since 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics.
But the home secretary warned that these numbers were fueling the rise of the far right, saying: “When people see the arrival of the small boats in their current scale or feel the speed and scale of today’s migration, they feel we are losing control.
“Loss of control breeds fear, and when fearful, people turn inward.” Ms Mahmood will say this risks fueling “ethno-nationalism”.
In his speech, the Home Secretary will claim that his reforms offer a “compassionate but controlled asylum system”.
The Home Office also announced that support payments and accommodation for asylum seekers would be removed if they were working illegally or unable to support themselves financially. Those who have the right to work or have broken the law will also see these benefits revoked.
The rule change, which will come into force in June, will replace EU law’s legal obligation to provide support and accommodation to asylum seekers on a conditional approach.
As of 31 December 2025, there were 107,003 asylum seekers receiving accommodation or financial support from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Of these, 30,657 were living in immigrant hotels, and 72,769 were living in different forms of accommodation such as multi-person houses.
The vast majority of these people are awaiting the outcome of their asylum claims or appeals. Several thousand others are still receiving financial support even though their asylum claims were ultimately rejected. This is to prevent that person from remaining poor.
According to the Home Office, around 21,000 of these migrants were granted the right to work because they had been waiting for asylum application decisions for more than 12 months.
Responding to the announcement, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour has only deported 6 per cent of illegal arrivals since taking office, so introducing another gimmick won’t change anything.”
Mr Hilton added: “The home secretary already has the power to refuse support and accommodation to people seeking asylum who are not poor or breaching the rules.
“This is the latest in a long line of statements from successive governments bullying refugees over their rise in the polls rather than trying to solve the real problems facing people and communities, such as poverty, homelessness and the rise of the far right.
“Ministers must end this dangerous race to the end and champion a United Kingdom that welcomes people fleeing war and torture and supports them to rebuild their lives here.”
Ms Bhutta said: “These plans risk leaving men, women and children who have already endured the trauma of war and persecution in a permanent state of uncertainty, unable to recover or plan for their future.
“Through our work, we know there is a real danger that the changes could not only deprive refugees of the stability they need to rebuild their lives, but could also push more people into poverty and homelessness.”
