Shabana Mahmood’s double down on immigration ‘disappointing’, says Alf Dubs

The home secretary’s decision to double down on hardline immigration reforms in light of Labour’s byelection defeat to the Green Party is “disappointing”, according to the Labour peer Alf Dubs.Lord Dubs, a child refugee who fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on the Kindertransport in 1939, had previously accused Shabana Mahmood of “pulling up the drawbridge” on child migrants.Hannah Spencer, a plumber and Green councillor, won the previously safe Labour seat of Gorton and Denton in east Manchester on Thursday, overturning a majority of 13,000. The Labour candidate, Angeliki Stogia, came third, behind Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin.Labour has been accused of alienating voters on its left flank by trying to combat the rise of Reform, particularly on the issue of immigration.The Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, has said Labour is echoing “the rhetoric of the far right” on its proposed immigration reforms, modelled on the hardline Danish system.Mahmood indicated on Friday that she would press ahead with the controversial policies, despite the objections of many backbench Labour MPs and union figures.The government plans the biggest shake-up of the asylum system in 40 years. Under the proposals, those who enter the country illegally will have to wait 20 years to apply for indefinite leave to remain.“The Greens are showing that, in humanitarian terms, they are probably in the right place [on immigration],” Dubs said. “Reform hasn’t done as well as Reform expected.”Dubs, 93, said he did not consider Mahmood’s response to be “sensible” in light of the humiliating byelection defeat.The Green Party has proposed its own reforms to the immigration system, saying asylum seekers should be allowed to work and that the government should establish more safe routes for refugees to enter the country.The Labour reforms are widely seen as a reaction to the surge in support for Reform. Nigel Farage has said his party would scrap indefinite leave to remain and deport about 600,000 migrants in its first term if it won power.“I think [Mahmood] should be much more influenced by the fact there was a Green victory and the Greens have a sensible policy on this, and the Labour Party ought to have an equally sensible policy,” Dubs said.He added that he was particularly concerned by the plight of child refugees, many of whom are affected by the decision to suspend family reunion visas last year.Until September, an adult who was granted refugee status could sponsor their spouse or partner and dependent children under the age of 18 to join them.“We should have a more humanitarian policy for refugees and asylum seekers anyway, particularly family reunion and children,” he added.“I think what [Mahmood] is saying is disappointing and hope she’ll move away from that position and come to a better arrangement.“One of the priorities should be family reunion for child refugees, if a child is abroad and has close family here with settled status. Children should be able to come here as asylum seekers.”