Shabana Mahmood Vows to Stick With Hardline Migration Policies After Byelection Defeat

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, the 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, the 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,” a party source said.

Mahmood insisted on Friday that Labour would push on with the changes: “The levels of illegal migration are putting immense strain on our country, and our public services – creating division within communities across the country.

“Illegal migration is undermining the contract between government and its citizens – eroding support for the asylum system entirely.”

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.

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