Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is facing a backlash from Labour backbenchers over her more hardline approach to asylum policy – as her allies claimed her policies are driving down small boat numbers.
Andy Burnham’s allies on the left of the party are urging the new Prime Minister to “rethink” policy and “change the narrative” on migration, claiming that Labour risks playing into the hands of Reform UK.
But Home Office sources told The i Paper that Burnham has thrown his full weight behind Mahmood’s tougher approach to tackling the small boats crisis, including ending permanent refugee status and increasing deportations.
Shorts
It comes as 173 people had to be rescued from a “mega-dinghy” in the English Channel after its engine caught fire, as smuggling gangs increasingly resort to larger craft.
