Starmer braced for backlash from Labour MPs as Mahmood sets out asylum plans – UK politics live

8.58am GMT Good morning. At the 2024 general election Labour sought to appeal by right-leaning voters by telling them that Keir Starmer would not raise the main rats of tax, and to left-leaning voters by telling them that he would get rid of the Tories’s Rwanda scheme. These days there must be a lot of people in government who think life would be a lot easier if they had done it the other way round – offering tax rises to the left, and Rwanda (or something similar) to the right. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, isn’t resurrecting the Rwanda policy today (although recently Josh Glancy reported in the Sunday Times that privately some government figures now believe that scrapping it was a mistake). But she will announce plans that would drastically tighten the UK’s asylum laws. One feature of the plans would require asylum seekers to wait 20 years before being allowed to get permanent settlement in the UK – which would be the longest wait in any European asylum system. With the budget only 10 days away, we are now in a period bookended by two announcements that could decide the fate of Starmer and his government. The rise of Reform UK is driven more than anything by anger about the small boat arrivals, and Mahmood hopes that her plans will have a significant impact on the problem. Like a budget, the asylum plan contains so many news lines that the Home Office has been dribbling them out over a period of days. Here is Alexandra Topping’s summary from yesterday of what we are expecting in asylum policy paper. Related: What changes to the UK asylum system are being proposed by Labour? And here are the main developments this morning. The Home Office has announced a further element of the plan – a threat to “stop granting visas to nationals of Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo if their governments do not rapidly improve co-operation on removals”. The Home Office says: Thousands of illegal migrants and criminals from these nations are currently in the UK, with the Home Office continually frustrated in its efforts to remove them. Visa penalties could mean VIPs and tourists alike not being able to enter the UK unless co-operation improves in the coming months. Similar measures against other countries remain under consideration. This includes a possible ‘emergency brake’ on visas to block entry from countries with high rates of asylum claims from legal routes. Alex Norris, a Home Office minister, has confirmed that refugees could have jewellery or other valuables taken to pay for the costs of processing their cases. He was standing up a story first reported by the Sun. Peter Walker has the details here. Related: Asylum seekers’ jewellery could be seized to pay for processing costs, says Home Office minister Starmer is braced for a backlash against the plans from Labour MPs. So far only a few Labour figures have spoken out against the plans publicly, but that may change when Mahmood gives a statement to MPs this afternoon (and when Lahour MPs read the jewellery story). One MP who has spoken about this policy is Stella Creasy, who was written an article for the Guardian saying “if this policy becomes law the UK will require ICE-style raids to remove people – and their children”. Related: ICE-style raids on Britain’s streets: that’s all Labour’s brutal asylum reforms will achieve | Stella Creasy Another is Tony Vaughan, a KC specialising in immigration law who was elected MP for Folkestone and Hythe in 2024. Last night he posted this on social media. The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road. These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning. The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong. We absolutely need immigration controls. And where those controls decide to grant asylum, we should welcome and integrate, not create perpetual limbo and alienation. The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities. The Government is wrong to think that reviews of safety in the person’s country every few years will mean refugees can be returned at scale. That hasn’t happened in Denmark. Brutal dictators tend to hang onto power. It would just move huge amounts of resource away from making our asylum system work as it should - by cutting initial decision delays and the appeals backlog, sorting out asylum accommodation, making the UK-France deal work, removing those whose claims fail etc. The Government must think again on this. Commenting on Vaughan’s post, John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, said many Labour MPs probably share Vaughan’s concerns. Tony Vaughan is one of the new MPs elected for Labour last year & in his contributions to Commons debates has displayed a considered approach to issues. He’s certainly not what the media would call a “usual suspect”. I suspect he is reflecting here what many in the PLP feel. Reform UK and the Conservatives are dismissing the proposals on the grounds that they do not believe they will ever be implemented – either because of opposition from the Labour party, or from the courts. The Daily Mail is reporting this with a headline treating this as fact, not an assertion. Mahmood has used an article in the Guardian to argue that her plans are necessary to stop “dark forces” overwhelming the country. She says: This is a moral mission for me. I know that a country without secure borders is a less safe country for those who look like me. Dark forces are stirring up anger in this country, and seeking to turn that anger into hate. We must take the opportunity we have to stop that from happening. And I know we can. I will be mostly focusing on this story today, but there are other poltitical stories around. Here is the agenda for the day. 10am: Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, holds a press conference. Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in the south-east of England. 11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing. 2.30pm: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons. After 3.30pm: Mahmood makes her statement to MPs about changes to the asylum system. If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. 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