Labour is doomed unless it learns to love Shabana Mahmood. The home secretary is right in trying to deliver what the British people want on immigration – and if she fails, it will be Nigel Farage who gets to call the shots, writes John Rentoul.
Mahmood's Stand Against Antisemitism
Shabana Mahmood gets it. She understands that Jews feel unsafe on the streets of London, and that this is a moral emergency. Her response to the stabbings in Golders Green was right, promising that the government would “strain every sinew” to protect Jews, while recognising that many people feel frustrated that those in authority are just “trotting out the same words” after an attack.
She brings a particular credibility to her role as home secretary. “When I take the stand that I am taking against antisemitism, I am doing so as a practising Muslim; it is absolutely in line with my faith,” she said this morning. She can speak with conviction for British Muslims who refuse to allow their views of what is happening in Israel and Gaza to excuse Jew-hatred. She is a strong home secretary who takes seriously her responsibility to keep people safe and to deliver on the people’s priorities.
Criticism from Labour Members
Yet she is unpopular with Labour Party members, who think that her immigration policies are “illiberal”, and who are unimpressed that she speaks on the subject with the authority of the daughter of immigrants. Last week, she fought back, telling Matt Forde that she thought there was a trace of racism in some of the criticism: “I do think there is that element of it, which is: ‘How dare you, a brown woman, say a thing that we white liberals think you’re not allowed to say?’ Well I’m saying it.”
She is saying it, and it is time that more people in the Labour Party listened. She is under attack from so-called liberals in her own party in particular for her plans to restrict the right to settle in Britain for people who arrived in the “Boriswave” of unprecedented immigration between 2022 and 24. Angela Rayner, who had previously taken a robust, socially conservative line on immigration, accused her of a “breach of trust” and called the plan “un-British”. Such opportunism in reflecting what unrepresentative party members want to hear rather than what the wider public wants ought not to go unpunished.
The Political Necessity of Immigration Control
Many Labour MPs are uneasy about the proposals, for good and compassionate reasons, but Rayner ought to be explaining why they are necessary rather than encouraging a rebellion that she hopes will promote her leadership ambition. She ought to explain that the proposals are right in principle, but that they are also necessary as a matter of raw politics. If the Labour government fails to demonstrate that it has control of immigration, it will cede power to Nigel Farage, whose approach will be worse.
Rayner ought to know that the Boriswave is a real problem. There are some Labour MPs who think the term itself is illiberal or offensive, because it suggests that immigration is a bad thing. But Mahmood’s argument is that immigration is a good thing – provided it is at a level that enjoys popular consent. The Boriswave was an unprecedented influx of low-skilled workers, mostly on social care visas, accompanied by dependants, and she claims that it was associated with a high level of fraud.
Mahmood's Plan and Its Implications
Her plan is to require immigrants to do more to earn the right to settle permanently in Britain, currently granted after five years in this country, by extending the qualifying period to 10 or 15 years. The Home Office is currently inviting views on the proposals, and sources insist that the consultation is “genuine”. But any changes are likely to be limited to amending the list of skilled jobs that could earn earlier right to settlement. I am told that Mahmood is determined to press on, and that she intends to do so “this year”, because next year is when the first of the Boriswave surge of arrivals start to come up to their fifth anniversary in Britain. What is more, the changes to Home Office rules do not require legislation, or indeed parliamentary approval of any kind.
No doubt Labour rebels will try to find a way to stop the changes, but they need to make the argument first. Given the price that the Conservative government paid for allowing net immigration to quadruple after Brexit, they have to reckon with the consequences for Labour of failing to regain control. It is not right that the unprecedented numbers that arrived as a result of Boris Johnson’s incompetence should be granted the right of permanent settlement on the same terms as previous cohorts. But it would also be a political mistake for Labour to do so, handing over the power over immigration policy to Farage.
Unless the Labour Party learns to respect Mahmood, it is destined to repeat the mistakes that sent the Conservatives to their worst election defeat ever.
