How Shabana Mahmood set out ‘Labour argument’ for forcibly deporting children

After the catastrophe of a third-place finish behind the Green Party and Reform UK at the Gorton and Denton by-election last week, Labour was faced with a choice.

Continue with its hardline approach to immigration, in an effort to win back voters tempted by the rhetoric of Nigel Farage, or switch to a lighter approach which could appeal to those voters drawn to Zack Polanski.

This morning, I listened as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out her argument for doing the former at a left-wing think tank in central London.

She was determined to stress, though, that she wasn’t trying to mimic any other party – this was the natural course dictated by following her ‘Labour values’ of fairness, decency, tolerance and ‘quiet but profound’ patriotism.

It was Labour values that meant accommodation for asylum seekers would become conditional rather than guaranteed.

It was Labour values that meant refugees would only be able to stay in the country for 30 months before they faced being sent back to the country they came from.

And – in perhaps today’s most dramatic announcement – it was Labour values that would mean failed asylum seeker families, including children, would be forcibly deported if they did not accept a payment to leave.

This latest batch of big immigration announcements comes after Mahmood was inspired on a trip to Denmark last week.

One policy that caught her eye was how the Danes used incentives to ensure those who fail in their asylum claim leave – according to the Home Secretary, it’s meant 95% of removals take place voluntarily there.

That’s prompted her to try a pilot programme over here. This is how it will work.

Earlier this week, a letter was sent to 150 families of various nationalities that were unsuccessful in claiming asylum after arriving in the UK.

It gave them an ultimatum: accept an incentive payment of £10,000 per family member – up to a maximum of £40,000 for each family – and leave the country, or you’ll get kicked out by force.

That will involve the forcible removal of children.

Asked today how much force she would be willing to see used on children of failed asylum seekers, Mahmood said: ‘We already have policies across other bits of the public sector about enforcement where children are concerned.

‘There are well-used legal tests for how to do so in a way that’s necessary but also proportionate and how to best judge that.’

The Green Party accused her of rehashing an ‘old BNP policy of paying people to leave the country’.

But Mahmood said a failure to enforce the rules on these families had created a ‘perverse incentive to make a Channel crossing with children in a small boat’.

She added: ‘It is now on the parents in these families who can safely return to the home they came from to do the right thing, by accepting an incentive payment rather than face an enforced return.’

The Home Secretary also explained the new limitations on refugee status in terms of fairness: safe and legal routes will be introduced which would not be subject to the 30-month limit, and she wanted to encourage people to take those rather than jumping in a small boat.

However, those legal routes are not appearing any time soon. The first arrivals from a new student refugee route will not come to the UK until autumn 2027, but the limit came into effect on Monday.

So, any refugees in need between this week and autumn next year – let’s say, for example, there’s some sort of crisis in the Middle East – will not have a choice.

Every 30 months, the circumstances of their home country will be reviewed and they will be sent back if it’s deemed safe.

Mahmood chose a left-wing think tank to make her argument today because she knew people on her side of politics are deeply unhappy with this approach.

That includes MPs from her own party who have written to her with their concerns – and who will have the power for scuppering some aspects of these plans.

The Home Secretary’s first job is winning those people over. Her second is demonstrating to the country – whether they vote Reform, Green, Labour, or for anyone else – that this will actually work.

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