LONDON - Labour faced full-scale civil war yesterday after MPs vowed to torch 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, 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. Mahmood has sounded defiance, dismissing the prospect that the overhaul could humiliatingly collapse like Keir Starmer’s welfare reform.
However, 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.
A YouGov poll this morning showed the Green support surging by two points to 17 per cent - level with the Tories and just behind Labour on 19 per cent.
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.’’
The proposals also include seizing the assets of asylum seekers and forcing people to wait 20 years before becoming eligible for permanent settlement.
Worryingly for No.10, the rebellion looks to have spread far beyond the so-called ‘usual suspects’ on the Left.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. (Pic: BBC)