Voters despair at Labour’s ‘futile’ new refugee policy – except for the far right

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has spoken out against so-called illegal immigration as her department announced plans to make refugee status ‘temporary’. In response, the sort of people who might have once supported Labour are ‘despairing’ over Labour’s “futile” attempt to appeal to Reform voters.

Far-right activist Tommy Robinson, meanwhile, has celebrated the announcement:

The Overton window has been obliterated , well done patriots https://t.co/mRvARqF9MG

— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) November 15, 2025

“Division”

Earlier today, Mahmood posted one of the worst pieces of political messaging we’ve ever seen:

I am the child of immigrants.

Illegal migration is creating division across our country.

It is a broken system and we have a genuine problem to fix.

My job is to find a proper solution that can unite a divided country. pic.twitter.com/4qR46Hmhx7

— Shabana Mahmood MP (@ShabanaMahmood) November 16, 2025

If you’re wondering what’s so bad about it, it’s the final sentence. Mahmood is literally saying she doesn’t have a solution. Do you know who is saying they do have a solution? Every other fucking political party.

If you don’t know what the solution is, maybe just keep quiet, eh?

And this isn’t even mentioning that Labour are yet again dancing to Reform’s drum, and in the process they’re herding voters to their left and right:

@TheGreenParty votes are going up!!!

Lets #MakeHopeNormalAgain 💚https://t.co/nCUINrx7Ut https://t.co/kiGpdwfOhv pic.twitter.com/ypdT7H0EQU

— Joseph Wells (@JosephW56436640) November 16, 2025

As you’d expect, many, many people have criticised Mahmood’s stance:

Shabana Mahmood: ‘I can see – and I know my colleagues can – that illegal migration is tearing our country apart’

NO! What tears us apart are politicians who won’t tackle real causes of poverty, crumbling public services, poor housing etc but instead blame it all on a scapegoat pic.twitter.com/wQ23dpRZy7

— Alistair Stewart (@psycholdham) November 16, 2025

Shabana Mahmood: immigration is tearing Britain apart (parents who are immigrants)

Me: the constant politicisation of immigration to appeal to base racist instincts to cover up the constant failures and weakness of central government is tearing Britain apart.

A full hour of TV… pic.twitter.com/PdFeMBUuPl

— Narinder Kaur (@narindertweets) November 16, 2025

If Shabana Mahmood wants to talk about what’s ‘tearing Britain apart’, let’s start with billionaire tax evasion, the cost of living crisis, overflowing prisons, sewage spilling into rivers and streets full of people sleeping rough

— David__Osland (@David__Osland) November 16, 2025

Left: Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood saying asylum seekers are creating division across our country

Right: Keir Starmer criticising the very rhetoric that Shabana Mahmood just used to justify her new, harsh, divisive, asylum seeker policies

Just a few weeks ago Mahmood and… pic.twitter.com/yhzMG9mLq4

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) November 16, 2025

Shabana Mahmood on the BBC talking about desperate people fleeing war and persecution as being given a “golden ticket” and “handouts” and saying she’s got a “moral mission” to take them away from them

Indistinguishable from the rhetoric of Reform https://t.co/Y8JgD7PvmS

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) November 16, 2025

Kafkaesque from Labour

People have also criticised the Home Office’s plan to make refugee status temporary, as Reuters reported:

The Home Office also said that protection for refugees would “now be temporary, regularly reviewed and revoked” if the home country was deemed safe.

“Our system is particularly generous compared to other countries in Europe, where, after five years, you’re effectively automatically settled in this country. We will change that,” Mahmood told Sky News on Sunday.

She added that under the changes, a refugee’s status would be reviewed every two-and-a-half years, during “a much longer path to permanent settlement in this country of 20 years”.

Who is this supposed to appeal to?

The Reform voters who don’t want to let refugees in, or the former Labour voters who want the government to treat refugees with dignity and respect?

People commented on this too:

me when i’m in a “thinking of the most evil and unworkable policy” competition and my opponent is shabana mahmood https://t.co/d6wvgd0oUP pic.twitter.com/C3Ui8ZPvAh

— babey 🏳️‍⚧️ (@edenbound_) November 14, 2025

Truly astonishing watershed moment.

Tommy Robinson , a far right thug, is celebrating a Labour Party policy .

This is huge . You CANNOT vote Labour if you believe in tolerance , racial diversity, peace and basic decency . https://t.co/Isc7ympebG

— Newsfox (@theNewsfox) November 16, 2025

Eew Labour

Increasingly, Labour are despised by everyone around them. The frothing Farage fans think they’re traitors for letting in anyone, and everyone else thinks they’re the new nasty party.

What a mess.

Featured image Number 10 (Flickr) / Kellie Churchman (Wikimedia)