Shabana Mahmood's asylum plans split Labour
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 17 November 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has unveiled a series of changes to the migration and asylum system.
The plans, which have been trailed over the weekend, have been met with scorn from within the Labour party.
“This approach isn’t just morally wrong” the MP Richard Burgeon tweeted earlier today, “it’s politically disastrous.”
Oli Dugmore is joined by Ethan Croft.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The New Statesman. |
| 0:07.0 | Shabana Mahmoud, the Home Secretary, has unveiled a series of changes to the migration and asylum system. |
| 0:13.0 | The UK is now looking to Denmark as inspiration for a stricter, harsher approach to immigration. |
| 0:19.0 | Asylum seekers will have to wait 20 years before applying to settle permanently. Asylum seekers will be forced to immigration. Asylum seekers will have to wait 20 years before applying to settle |
| 0:22.4 | permanently. Asylum seekers will be forced to return to countries the government now considers |
| 0:26.8 | safe, including Syria. And asylum seekers' assets could be seized to pay for processing costs. |
| 0:33.5 | The plans which have been trailed over the weekend have been met with scorn from within the |
| 0:37.2 | Labour Party. |
| 0:38.4 | This approach isn't just morally wrong, the MP Richard Bergen tweeted earlier today. |
| 0:43.4 | It's politically disastrous. |
| 0:46.0 | I'm Olly Dugmore and this is the New Statesman podcast. |
| 0:48.2 | I'm joined now by Ethan Croft, who is in the Commons just now for the Home Secretary's statement. |
| 0:53.0 | Scuttled over here, Ethan. |
| 0:54.3 | Hello. |
| 0:55.0 | Hot-footed it over here. |
| 0:56.5 | Hello, hello. |
| 0:59.1 | Ethan, tell us what are the specifics of what Shabana and Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has announced? |
| 1:03.6 | Well, what you sat out there is pretty much the headline proposals. |
| 1:08.4 | She also spoke in the comments about various bits and bobs. She wants |
| 1:12.8 | to change like Article 3 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. |
| 1:20.0 | She wants to try and change those articles. She wants to try to use domestic legislation to basically, |
| 1:24.8 | so we're staying in the ECHR, but she basically wants to tighten up |
... |
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