𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Fair play to Shabana Mahmood. Her task as Home Secretary is a thankless one, in having to clear up the mess of her predecessors, Labour and Tory alike. Her asylum reforms – announced today – at least demonstrate some willingness to begin grappling with the nightmare of illegal immigration.

Mahmood is set to announce the Government will increase the time an illegal immigrant can claim permanent residency up to 20 years, while needing to renew their status every 30 months. Headline-grabbing stuff! But Mahmood’s problem is that – in dancing to Nigel Farage’s tune – she will alienate much of the Labour Left, both in the country and on the backbenchers, flirting as both are already with the Greens and Jeremy Corbyn.

Then there is the thorny issue of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR, the Human Rights Act, Labour MPs and peers, and liberal judges and lawyers, are all certain to block whatever the Home Secretary hopes to achieve.

Apparently Article 3 of the ECHR – which protects people from torture and inhumane treatment – will be reinterpreted to “support the deportation of dangerous criminals”. Meanwhile Article 8 – which guarantees right to family and private life – will apparently be reinterpreted so a family connection means immediate family, plus if an asylum seeker is told to leave and does not, they will not accrue further private or family rights.

But this will never in a million years prevent liberal lawyers, MPs and peers blocking and reinterpreting at every turn. Only disapplying the ECHR entirely will do that. Ditto changes to the appeals process or benefits.

Look, kudos to Mahmood for going further than others have in her party. But what authority does this Labour government really have on migration and what chance really is there that Labour MPs will sit back meekly and accept these measures?

If Labour thinks this neuters Reform UK, then the party needs to think again. If voters care deeply about immigration, why not vote for the consistent offer and real deal in Reform rather than a pale imitation in Labour or the Conservatives?

Moreover, Labour – like the Tories before – will struggle to hold a broad church together. Not only will it likely fail to woo back the Red Wall but, worst of all, this is guaranteed to drive even more bleeding-hearters to the Greens and ‘Your Party’ (or whatever the Corbyn-Sultana double-act is called this week).

B+ for effort for the Home Secretary but this plan is dead on arrival with the ECHR still in operation, and Labour MPs seething away behind the Cabinet as they eye the exit (especially those MPs set to lose their seats). Going too far for the Left, and not far enough for the Right, this plan will please few and deliver little. Finally, if Labour want European countries to copy, look to Hungary and Poland not Denmark.