Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is confronting significant internal opposition from her own Labour colleagues over contentious government plans to overhaul the UK's asylum system.
Internal Party Conflict Erupts
The Home Secretary faced public condemnation from Labour backbenchers who described her proposed asylum package as 'shameful' and accused it of echoing the rhetoric of Nigel Farage's Reform UK. The reforms aim to deter migrants from seeking asylum in Britain while streamlining the removal process for those without legal status.
Ms Mahmood defended her position in Parliament, stating that the UK's generous asylum offer compared to other European nations has become an 'uncomfortable truth' attracting people to British shores. She argued that for British taxpayers, the current system 'feels out of control and unfair' and warned that failing to address the crisis could empower 'dark forces' within society.
Key Reforms Spark Outrage
The proposed measures represent the most significant changes to asylum policy under the new Labour government. They include reducing refugees' initial stay from five years to just 30 months under a new 'core protection' system that requires renewal if returning remains unsafe.
Refugees would need to spend 20 years in the UK before applying for settled status, a substantial increase from the current five-year requirement. The package also eliminates automatic family reunion rights for those under core protection and removes guaranteed housing and weekly allowances for asylum seekers.
Perhaps most controversially, the plans enable enforced returns of families with children and require asylum seekers who can work or possess valuable assets to contribute to their costs in the UK.
Political Reactions and Statistics
The backlash from Labour MPs was immediate and forceful. Former frontbencher Richard Burgon accused the policy of 'scraping the bottom of the barrel', while Ian Lavery questioned the government's direction when both Tories and Reform UK support the measures.
Stella Creasy warned the reforms would leave refugees in 'a permanent sense of limbo', and Nadia Whittome condemned what she called the shameful removal of protections from trauma survivors.
The political drama unfolds against a backdrop of record asylum applications, with 111,084 people applying in the year to June 2025—the highest number since current records began in 2001. Small boat crossings have contributed significantly, with nearly 40,000 people making the dangerous Channel journey so far in 2025.
While Tory leader Kemi Badenoch argued the measures didn't go far enough and demanded leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon warned the reforms risk creating more delays and overwhelming an already strained system.
