Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will press on with hardline immigration policies despite calls for a reversal from unions and left-leaning Labour MPs after the Green party's byelection victory. Senior Labour sources insisted that the home secretary would continue to roll out changes to asylum policy, dismissing as 'plain wrong' claims that it would further alienate Muslim voters.
Andrea Egan, general secretary of Unison, the biggest Labour-affiliated union, called on Friday for the government to change course and defend 'migrants and refugees' after the party came third behind Reform UK in Gorton and Denton, Greater Manchester. Diane Abbott, independent MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, told the Guardian that Labour should 'turn to more progressive policies on issues such as immigration and asylum'.
But a party source said Mahmood would not learn 'the wrong lessons' from the byelection. 'The idea that we are losing Muslim voters over immigration is plain wrong,' the source said. Mahmood insisted on Friday that Labour would push on with the changes, arguing that illegal migration is putting immense strain on the country and public services, creating division within communities.
Mahmood will argue next week that migration policies – including forcing people to wait 20 years before being able to claim leave to remain – were entirely consistent with Labour values. In a speech at a thinktank, she will warn Labour MPs that the future of the party will be 'in jeopardy' unless it supports 'controls on the level of migration' to limit pressure on local communities.
Labour sources have pointed to polling from More In Common showing that a majority of Labour and Green voters supported many of Mahmood's proposals. Last week, Mahmood visited Denmark to see how its centre-left Social Democratic party had tackled migration using hardline policies, including temporary residence permits and requirements for permanent status.
