Plans introduced by Shabana Mahmood to tighten restrictions on asylum seekers have sparked significant divisions within the Labour Party.

The Home Secretary addressed MPs, emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to restore public trust in the United Kingdom’s asylum system, which she described as “broken” and perceived as “out of control and unfair.”

However, a wave of Labour MPs voiced strong opposition to the proposed measures, labeling them as “dystopian.” Several members have signaled their intention to obstruct these changes.

Richard Burgon criticized the government’s approach, arguing that they were “scraping the bottom of the barrel” and warning that it could lead to the establishment of the nation’s first far-right administration.

Nadia Whittome expressed her disapproval, calling it “shameful” for Labour to pursue what she sees as “obviously cruel policies.”

The dissent extends beyond the party’s traditionally vocal left-wing members. A diverse group of MPs have expressed alarm over proposals that include deporting families of failed asylum claimants, confiscating assets from asylum seekers, and imposing a 20-year wait before they can apply for permanent settlement.

And it comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s position is weakened, having seen briefings about leadership challengers backfire.

Prominent Labour MP Stella Creasy accused ministers of ‘performative cruelty’ and warned the measures would be ‘counterproductive to integration and the economy’. She said leaving people ‘in limbo’ for decades would worsen problems with integration.

Shabana Mahmood’s plans for a crackdown on asylum seekers triggered deep splits in Labour’s ranks last night

There were concerns over deporting the families of people whose asylum claims have failed, seizing the assets of asylum seekers and forcing people to wait 20 years before becoming eligible for permanent settlement

Folkestone MP Tony Vaughan, a former immigration lawyer, said the rhetoric emerging from the Home Office ‘encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities’.

He added: ‘These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning. The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.’ 

Stroud MP Simon Opher said it was ‘wrong and cruel’ to ‘scapegoat immigrants’, adding: ‘We should push back on the racist agenda of Reform rather than echo it.’

In the Commons, Luton North MP Sarah Owen criticised the plans to confiscate high-value items such as jewellery to help fund asylum accommodation.

 ‘A strong immigration system doesn’t have to be a cruel one,’ she said.

Ms Mahmood insisted officials would not be ‘taking jewellery at the border’. But she said it was right that asylum seekers with assets should contribute to the cost of their upkeep.

The scale of the Labour backlash will fuel speculation that ministers could be forced to back down again following U-turns on benefit cuts and the winter fuel payment.

One Labour insider said: ‘If we’re going to have a fight with the Left on this, we have to make sure we actually win this time.’

But Ms Mahmood rejected claims the crackdown was designed to ‘out-Reform Reform’, telling MPs: ‘I couldn’t care less what other parties are saying. There is a problem here that needs to be fixed.’

She also dismissed criticism from the Green Party, accusing senior figures of ‘hypocrisy’ for claiming to welcome refugees while opposing accommodation in their areas.

She was, however, backed by some Labour MPs, including those from traditional Red Wall seats.

North Durham MP Luke Akehurst said his constituents were ‘worried and angry’ about the relocation of asylum seekers locally and said restoring control of the border was ‘one of the most basic and fundamental functions of government’. 

Bassetlaw MP Jo White said ‘enforcing the immigration rules, including removals, is in the public interest’.

Ms Mahmood also won support on the Tory benches, with veteran MP Sir Edward Leigh praising her ‘strong Conservative principles’.

But former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Ms Mahmood of ‘trying to appease the most ghastly Right-wing forces’, while fellow Your Party founder Zarah Sultana said her comments were ‘straight out of the fascist playbook’.

Home Secretary rejects claims she’s stoking division – by saying she’s the one who gets called a ‘f***ing P**i’ and told to ‘go back home’ 

Shabana Mahmood hit back at critics of her asylum reforms last night as she revealed she suffers racist abuse in the street.

The Home Secretary was accused of ‘stoking division’ as she unveiled her controversial plans, which came under fire from many in her own party.

But she shocked the House of Commons by saying she was ‘regularly called a f***ing P**i and told to go back home’, saying it showed how the asylum crisis was dividing Britain.

Ms Mahmood, Britain’s first Muslim woman Home Secretary, yesterday moved to scrap the immigration courts, which have been accused of being in the thrall of ‘activist judges’, and replacing them with a new system of ‘independent adjudicators’ overseen by the Home Office.

And in proposals that riled Labour’s Left and others, she looked to curtail the ability of failed asylum seekers to bring human rights challenges.

After coming under attack from Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson, Ms Mahmood responded: ‘I wish I had the privilege of walking around this country and not seeing the division that the issue of migration and asylum is creating.

‘Unlike him, unfortunately I am the one who is regularly called a f***ing P**i and told to go back home.

‘I know through my own experience and the experience of my constituents just how divisive asylum has become in our country.’

Ms Mahmood did win support on the Tory benches, with veteran MP Sir Edward Leigh praising her ‘strong Conservative principles’

Ms Mahmood apologised after being rebuked by the Deputy Speaker, but added: ‘I was merely reflecting the truth of words that are used to me.’

As details of her plans were set out in a 33-page Home Office document, titled Restoring Order and Control, splits within Labour deepened.

MPs lined up to attack the ‘dystopian’ reforms, with several indicating they will rebel to block the changes.

Former frontbencher Richard Burgon accused ministers of ‘scraping the bottom of the barrel’, branding the plans a ‘desperate attempt to triangulate with Reform’ and predicting that ministers would U-turn on the plans within months.

Fellow Left-winger Nadia Whittome said it was ‘shameful’ that Labour was adopting ‘such obviously cruel policies’.

But the rebellion looked set to spread beyond the Left of the party, with a broad range of Labour MPs speaking out, exposing a schism in Sir Keir Starmer’s Government barely a week from Budget day.

A full-scale Labour backbench rebellion over the plans could lead to humiliation for Sir Keir if he is forced to rely on Tory support, as promised by Kemi Badenoch yesterday, to push them through.

Other measures in Ms Mahmood’s plan include making refugee status temporary with reviews every two and a half years, and the possibility of it not being renewed.

Labour will also scrap a legal duty to provide asylum seekers with taxpayer-funded support.

The blueprint said the Home Office will begin deporting families of failed asylum seekers, identifying a ‘particularly perverse’ situation which saw some ‘exploit the fact that they have had children… in order to thwart removal’ from Britain.

Some failed asylum seekers could also benefit from a ‘golden goodbye’ with ‘increased incentive payments’ above the current £3,000 handout if they agree to go home voluntarily.

Home Office officials last night refused to say how much the taxpayer could be handing over.

Many of Ms Mahmood’s proposals are likely to face legal challenges if ministers succeed in passing legislation.

Britain will remain part of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), amid strong backing for the treaty from Sir Keir, a former human rights barrister, meaning the Government could still be forced to counter legal action in the appeal courts and in Strasbourg, leaving some of the reforms tied up in red tape for years.

Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch described the Government’s plans as ‘baby steps’, warning that any plan that did not involve leaving the ECHR was ‘doomed to fail’. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the Tories would ‘stand ready to help get the legislation through’ in the event of an ‘inevitable’ Labour revolt.

Ms Mahmood told the Commons she had a duty to act because mounting concern over immigration was ‘making our country a more divided place’.

She said the asylum system ‘feels out of control and unfair’, adding: ‘If we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred.’

Labour has been accused of attempting to mimic Tory and Reform immigration policies in a bid to head off annihilation in the polls.

A source close to Ms Mahmood warned: ‘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.’

On the possibility of backbench rebellions, the source 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. Politics is about making arguments for things you think are right. That is what the Home Secretary is doing. The scale of illegal migration is dividing our country. That is why we must restore order and control.

‘If we don’t, we will lose public consent for giving refuge at all.’ Steve Valdez-Symonds, of Amnesty International, said: ‘The Home Secretary’s immigration and asylum plans are cruel, divisive and fundamentally out of step with basic decency.

‘The moment a government decides that fundamental rights can be switched off for certain people, it crosses a dangerous line that should never be crossed.’

The Free Movement blog, which provides advice for immigration lawyers, was critical of the ‘horrors’ in Ms Mahmood’s proposals, and said in a newsletter to subscribers: ‘I am sure everyone has resources ready to show how harmful and unworkable the proposals are.’