Illegal migration is ‘tearing our country apart’ and system is broken, says Shabana Mahmood – UK politics live

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Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has made it across Millbank and is now in the chair with Laura Kuenssberg.

He immediately launches into why the Tories would be “much tougher” on illegal immigration than Labour and repeats that people should be deported within a week of arrival.

“If someone’s come here legally and gets asylum, they could of course apply for a work visa,” he says. “I don’t think providing people with temporary protection should be a permanent right to stay.”

The only thing that will stop people getting on small boats is the knowledge they will be deported within a week, he says.

Asked about the chaos this week surrounding briefings against cabinet ministers and talk of replacing Keir Starmer as prime minister, the home secretary calls it “unacceptable”.

“One of the difficulties of these sorts of briefings is that is is very difficult to find out exactly who was responsible,” he says.

“But I hope that the individuals who were responsible – who are now feeling the abject humiliation of what has happened – that the humiliation will serve as a reminder that they should not indulge in a repeat performance.”

She says Starmer has made it clear that is was not acceptable.

Mahmood says she will not engage in hypothetical questions about a future run as Labour leader and also refuses to suggest what Starmer should say to US president Donald Trump over the BBC.

“The BBC needs to get its own house in order but its an institution that we absolutely support,” she concludes.

Home secretary: 'illegal migration is tearing our country apart'

Mahmood says she is the “child of migrants” and rejects that dealing with illegal migration is engaging with far-right talking points.

“This is a moral mission for me because I can see that illegal migration is tearing our country apart,” she says.

“It is dividing communities, people can see huge pressure in their communities and they can also see a system that is broken and where people are able to flout the rules, abuse the system and get away with it.

“I am not willing to stand by a pretend there isn’t a problem, when I know there is one, and then suggest that any solution to that cannot work because I believe they can.”

She says she knows she has to persuade people across the country, and in parliament, that the government’s reforms can work in this area.

Mahmood says she has the “misfortune” of looking at the way people smugglers are advertising and selling the “generosity” of Britain and that is driving people to get on small boats.

“It is important that we send a signal,” she says, adding that she was been working with other European countries.

Kuenssberg asks if the govenment cannot bring down the cost of taxis for asylum seekers, how can they be trusted on the wider issue?

Mahmood says she inherited contracts and that she is “furious” about the cost to the taxpayer in relation to taxis. “Give us a little bit of time,” she says.

Ukrainians are in the UK on a “bespoke scheme”, Mahmood says, and it is on a temporary basis.

If Ukraine becomes a safe country again and the conflict ends, “the principle of the new reforms are that if your country becomes safe then you will return,” she says.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood is now speaking with Laura Kuenssberg, saying that the government wants to increase the number of removals.

Asked whether it is right that somebody’s status can be considered temporary for up to 20 years, she says it is right because some countries that have started in conflict have since become safe.

“It’s my job to make sure that the home office bureaucracy works,” she says. “One of my real frustrations … is often we have a set of rules and don’t enforce them properly.

“The totality of the reforms I will be setting out are designed to bring our system back into order and control.”

Asked whether he would make Britain a “hostile environment” by following the Danish approach of refusing to put asylum seekers in an area if it increases the percentage of “non-westerners” above a certain level, Philp says the answer is deportation within one week.

He says the only reason the Conservatives were unable to do any of this during its 14 years of government was because of the ECHR.

“The numbers coming into this country, both legally and illegally, for many years now [have been] far, far too high,” he says.

“We need to see a society where there is a British society and a British culture. Without that, you have a divided country.”

He estimates there are between one and two million people currently in the UK and says that “they should be removed.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp says the Tories will “support sensible steps” to deal with the asylum crisis but says Labour’s approach consists of “small steps in the right direction” and “gimmicks”.

Also speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News, he says people who arrive illegally should not ever be granted asylum and ought to be removed within a week of arrival.

“The Conservative party is under new leadership,” he says. “Kemi Badenoch was never prime minister, I was never home secretary. We now have a different approach.”

He says the UK needs to leave the ECHR and that it was responsible for stopping the Rwanda scheme, which was cancelled following Labour’s election win in 2024.

Mahmood is asked about whether the prime minister and should consider his position.

She says she “has no time” for tittle tattle and says every minister has an important job to do.

“We should be focused on delivering for the British people,” she says. “I have no time for things people say either privately or anonymously.

“If people have things to say, they should have the courage of their convictions to say so publicly.”

The home secretary says the government will create more “safe routes” for people to seek asylum in the UK as a way of stopping small boats.

Asked about her own heritage, Mahmood says her parents came to Britain legally in the late 1960s and that is is “a moral mission” for her.

“This is a broken system,” she says. “I’m not willing to stand back and watch my country be divided.”

Trevor Phillips asks Mahmood about the upcoming budget but Mahmood says she will not speculate on what the chancellor will do.

Mahmood says she will announce tomorrow what the government will do to deal with Article 8 of the ECHR in relation to people’s right to a family life.

She is asked whether she will make it “really uncomfortable” for asylum seekers to be in the UK and if she aims to create a “hostile environment”.

“I’m sending a clear signal to people: do not get on a boat,” she says. “We want to disincentivise the behaviour that is drawing people dangerously across the channel.”

The government is going to make refugee status temporary up for review every two-and-a-half years, Mahmood tells Sky News.

“That is changing the way that we look at refugee status,” she says.

She says one of the draws to the UK for people is the family reunification rights, which was halted by her predecessor.

“Firstly, we are clamping down on illegal working in this country and have announced new checks with digital ID,” she says.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood is speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning and has said that she has had “good conversations” with French interior ministers over plans to tackle to small boats crisis.

Mahmood says her proposals “will change the calculus” of people getting on to small boats.

She says the ‘one in, one out’ policy is showing organised people smugglers that it is “not worth your time”.

“We have already prevented 20,000 channel crossings,” she says. “We need to reduce those pull factors … illegal migration is causing huge divides in this country”.

Government set to make support for asylum seekers ‘discretionary’

Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines this morning.

We start with news that Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce changes to Britain’s asylum system on Monday in an attempt to quell rising fears about immigration.

The home secretary plans to amend laws that guarantee housing and financial support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.

The government said assistance will become “discretionary”, meaning it will be able to deny help to those who can work or have assets.

Mahmood has pitched the package of proposals as “the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times”, designed to “restore control and fairness to the system”.

She added: “This country has a proud tradition of welcoming those fleeing danger, but our generosity is drawing illegal migrants across the Channel. The pace and scale of migration is placing immense pressure on communities.”

However, the majority of asylum seekers currently receiving support are unlikely to be affected. Government sources said rules that mean most asylum seekers are not allowed to have jobs will not change.

There are about 100,000 people in receipt of asylum support in the UK, the vast majority of whom are accommodated by the state. About a third remain in hotels, although Labour has pledged to end this practice by 2029.

About 8,500 people in asylum accommodation have the right to work because they entered the country on a visa and later claimed asylum.

Mahmood is doing the Sunday morning media round, so expect lines from that shortly. However, in the meantime, here is our full story: