Home Secretary Accelerates Immigration Bill Ahead of New Prime Minister
Shabana Mahmood is working to secure backing for her contentious immigration bill from Labour's progressive left by unveiling plans to expedite the establishment of new safe and legal pathways for thousands of refugees to enter the UK.
The home secretary, widely expected to retain her position if Andy Burnham becomes prime minister, will next week introduce a significant portion of the bill that governs asylum and refugee policies. This legislation will also impose new restrictions on immigration claims based on human rights and modern slavery laws.
Burnham has faced pressure to clarify his position on Mahmood's immigration policies amid concerns from some Labour MPs and charities who view the asylum claim restrictions as excessively harsh.
Labour peer Alf Dubs criticized Mahmood's approach, calling for Burnham to reconsider her role and for the asylum policies characterized as "performative cruelty" to be overturned.
"This is Labour’s reset moment when we can consign to the past some of the appalling language used by politicians to describe refugees: ‘invaders’, ‘an island of strangers’, ‘tearing our country apart’," Dubs stated.
Dubs, who arrived in the UK at age six in 1939 escaping Nazi persecution in Czechoslovakia, suggested Mahmood's skills would be better utilized elsewhere in the cabinet.
With Burnham poised to assume office next month, Mahmood has sought to moderate some of her stringent proposals, including reconsidering plans to extend the waiting period for indefinite leave to remain from five to ten years for migrants.
She has also engaged in discussions to exempt care workers from these changes. On Friday, Mahmood was involved in a dispute with Keir Starmer over the handling of the immigration proposals, specifically concerning a Starmer ally, Tapp, who allegedly briefed the Times and claimed the plans as Starmer's own. Mahmood requested Tapp's dismissal, but No 10 declined.
Sources close to Burnham indicate Mahmood is likely to remain in the Home Office, though cabinet assignments are yet to be finalized. Burnham broadly supports Mahmood's immigration agenda but has expressed reservations about applying indefinite leave to remain changes to migrants already residing in the UK.
Burnham is understood to have consented to the bill's introduction on Tuesday, despite not officially becoming prime minister until 20 July.
New Safe and Legal Routes for Refugees
The forthcoming bill will introduce two safe and legal routes for refugees starting this autumn: a community sponsorship scheme enabling groups to identify refugees to support, and a university student scheme. Applications for these routes will open within months, with refugees expected to arrive next year. A third scheme will permit employers to sponsor refugees beginning next year.
Mahmood has indicated these new routes will initially allow hundreds of refugees annually, with the goal of eventually reaching thousands per year, according to a Labour source.
The community sponsorship model is based on a similar Canadian program that has facilitated the entry of 400,000 refugees since 1979.
Recent immigration statistics reveal a 50% decline in refugees arriving via safe and legal routes in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025, with just over 3,600 individuals granted protection through resettlement or family reunification schemes.
In the UK, refugee family reunion, which permits family members to join loved ones, was paused by Mahmood in September 2025 and was anticipated to resume in spring 2026. However, there is currently no confirmed date for reopening applications.
Critics argue that families fleeing conflict and persecution have almost no safe and legal means to reach the UK, increasing the likelihood of dangerous journeys driven by desperation.
"The home secretary’s belief is we must play our humanitarian role to provide safe harbour to those fleeing peril. That is why we will open new, safe and legal routes for genuine refugees. These will be modest at first, they will grow in time, with the aim of thousands of refugees a year eventually coming to build a new life here in Britain once order and control has been restored," a Labour source explained.
Additional Measures in the Immigration Bill
The bill will also include several other provisions:
- Removing modern slavery protections for foreign nationals who have committed crimes and received sentences, eliminating the previous 12-month threshold.
- Rejecting last-minute modern slavery claims where objections could have been raised earlier or where false documentation is evident.
- Limiting immigration claims under the right to family life to parents, spouses, or children under 18, except in exceptional cases.
- Introducing a new test to affirm that deporting foreign national offenders serves the public interest and should only be blocked in exceptional circumstances.
- Requiring family reunion applications under the right to family life to be submitted by UK-based sponsors rather than overseas family members.
- Providing every trafficked and exploited child with an independent dedicated to their safeguarding and recovery.
Speaking before the bill's introduction, Mahmood stated:
"I will open new legal routes for genuine refugees, while closing loopholes that have been too often abused. My goal is simple: to ensure we have an asylum system not just today but for generations to come."
Calls for Compassionate Immigration Policies
Dubs urged a Burnham-led government to uphold "human rights, compassion, fairness and equality" while maintaining border control.
"This is Andy Burnham’s opportunity to correct some of the mistakes that the Starmer government made as regards asylum seekers and refugees," he said.
"The proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain, for instance, which would apply retrospectively to people who came here in good faith and according to the rules, are simply unjust and should be reconsidered."
Dubs, 93, was brought to the UK via the Kindertransport, a rescue operation organized by Sir Nicholas Winton.
He warned that the proposed changes could leave children like himself without sanctuary in the UK.
Dubs emphasized that Labour should control UK borders without cruelty, combining control with a commitment to basic rights and compassion for those in greatest need.
"Not performative cruelty – like briefing the Home Office would start seizing refugees’ jewellery at the border. Or using incendiary language to blame refugees for ‘tearing our country apart’."
Reactions from Advocacy Groups and Experts
Jo Cobley, chief executive of Safe Passage International, expressed concern that the bill is being pushed through quickly.
"I was anticipating the bill to be introduced after a new prime minister is confirmed, but it seems the home secretary is determined to push through these harsh plans for refugees."
Madeleine Sumption, director of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, noted the appeal of the sponsorship scheme to potential sponsors.
"I suspect that as the details are finalised, there will be some debate about who is allowed to sponsor. For example, will faith groups like churches and mosques be licensed as sponsors, and if so will they be able to select on the basis of faith?" she said.
