Shabana Mahmood hit back at critics of her asylum reforms on Monday as she revealed she suffers vile racist abuse in the street.
The Home Secretary was accused of ‘stoking division’ as she unveiled her controversial plan, which came under fire from many within her own party.
But she shocked the House of Commons as she described being ‘regularly called a f****** P*** and told to go back home,’ saying it showed how the asylum crisis is dividing Britain.
Ms Mahmood, Britain’s first Muslim 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****** P*** 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.’
The Home Secretary was accused of ‘stoking division’ as she unveiled her controversial plan, which came under fire from many within her own party
Ms Mahmood said: ‘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’ (file image)
She 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 plan 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’, branded the plans a ‘desperate attempt to triangulate with Reform’ and predicted 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 back bench 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.
As details of her plan were set out in Ms Mahmood’s 33-page Home Office document, titled Restoring Order and Control, splits within Labour deepened
Labour will also scrap a legal duty to provide asylum seekers with taxpayer-funded support.
The blueprint also 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 Labour’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.
And so 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 Kemi 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.’
