Labour is facing full-scale civil war today after MPs vowed to torch the government’s new bid to stop the Channel boats.
Dozens of backbenchers look set to try to block Shabana Mahmood’s plans despite her pleading that they are the only way to restore public faith in the ‘broken’ system and keep Reform out of power.
In a highly-charged Commons session last night, Ms Mahmood warned that the existing rules are ‘out of control and unfair’.
She insisted the idea of Britain as a ‘golden ticket’ for migrants must end, pledging to deport whole families – although she also suggested there could be bigger cash incentives to leave.
Labour MPs queued up to condemn the ‘cruel’ and ‘dystopian’ reforms, as splits threaten to shred the party. Ms Mahmood has sounded defiance, dismissing the prospect that the overhaul could humiliatingly collapse like Keir Starmer‘s welfare reform.
Giving a round of interviews this morning, Communities Secretary Steve Reed warned: ‘We can’t go on like this, it is tearing the country apart.’
But the furore underlines the mounting problems for the PM, with the Greens and Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party gleefully capitalising in a bid to drain away Labour’s voters.
The proposals also include seizing the assets of asylum seekers and forcing people to wait 20 years before becoming eligible for permanent settlement.
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
Worryingly for No10, the rebellion spread beyond the so-called ‘usual suspects’ on the Left.
Richard Burgon accused ministers of ‘scraping the bottom of the barrel’ and ‘paving the way for the first far-Right government in our history’.
Nadia Whittome said it was ‘shameful’ that Labour was adopting obviously cruel policies’.
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.
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 was forced to deny that officials would be ‘taking jewellery at the border’, after minister Alex Norris seemed to confirm reports that property would be seized from Channel migrants.
But she said it was right that asylum seekers with assets should contribute to the cost of their upkeep.
She gave a striking defence of her tough stance, graphically describing her own experience of racist abuse.
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’.
Nigel Farage suggested that her plan was ‘an audition to join Reform’.
But Ms Mahmood told Sky News after the Commons clashes: ‘Nigel Farage can sod off. I’m not interested in anything he’s got to say.’
The latest Home Office figures show 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025.
This is the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
As resistance mobilised this morning, Kent MP and former immigration lawyer Tony Vaughan warned that the government’s rhetoric ‘encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities’
Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, branded Ms Mahmood’s asylum reforms ‘deeply concerning’
Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, accused ministers of making ‘yet another desperate bid to outflank Reform on asylum seekers’
The Home Office released details of the proposals last night
Almost 40,000 people have made crossed the Channel so far in 2025.
In a plea to Labour MPs this morning, Mr Reed said: ‘Every single one of us who is a Labour MP was elected on the same manifesto, and that manifesto committed us now as a Government to securing our borders.
‘It’s very important that we do that. The British people expect us to do that. But we also have to end this vile trade in human lives.’
Mr Reed would not be drawn on how much the Government might offer failed asylum seekers to leave. Currently the payments are limited to £3,000, but the Home Office proposals suggest that could be increased significantly.
The Cabinet minister told Times Radio: ‘We will consult on that.’
The Housing Secretary continued: ‘I think it’s perfectly reasonable to give people financial support to make the journey back to their home.
‘In the long run, it’s cheaper for the British taxpayer to do that.
‘We need to look at the overall cost of the Tory asylum-seeking system that we inherited.’
Mr Reed stressed that families would not be separated as he defended the plans.
‘We cannot have a system that incentivises people to put their children on boats like that. We know that we need more safe and legal routes so that families who have the right to come here and seek asylum can get into the country, but we can’t continue to allow incentives to exist that result in children drowning in the Channel.’
