Mahmood aims to limit Migrants’ “right to family life”
JVL Introduction
Rushed proposals to clampdown on immigration are likely to be put to Parliament next week; they are part of a draconian set and “(t)he planned rules would apply retrospectively to claimants who are already in the UK – a move that prompted a backlash from as many as 100 Labour MPs including Angela Rayner, who said it was unfair and un-British.”
It seems that one aspect of proposed “reform” to the immigration laws, doubling of time needed before Indefinite Leave to Remain becomes possible is not being included in this Bill the terms of which are like to impact children and families as well as removing elements of independence in the process. When that legislation is presented it could impact two million people who are already living and working in Britain – many with families here too
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Wed 24 Jun 2026. Read the original here.
Shabana Mahmood’s immigration and asylum bill to go before MPs next week
Refugee charities fear controversial changes, including on forced removals and age checks, are being rushed through
Shabana Mahmood’s controversial plans to increase the forced removal of people refused asylum, introduce stringent age checks for people claiming to be children and limit applications under human rights laws are scheduled to be placed before MPs within days.
The immigration and asylum bill is expected to be put before parliament next Tuesday and will face opposition from some Labour, Lib Dem and independent MPs. Andy Burnham’s team, widely expected to be in No 10 within weeks, is understood to be aware of the bill and its contents.
The legislation is expected to direct how article 8 of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) is applied in immigration and deportation cases.
Mahmood has previously claimed that the right to family life has in some cases been used to frustrate removals and undermine public confidence in the rule of law.
It will outline a new structure for asylum tribunals by dropping an independent court system and replacing it with a new appeals body that sits within the Home Office. It is also supposed to allow the “immediate forced removal of those who have exhausted all appeals”.
The modern slavery framework will also be amended to stop the late presentation of claims, Whitehall sources said.
The bill will not introduce new rules to double the time it takes to qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five to 10 years for most migrant workers.
The planned rules would apply retrospectively to claimants who are already in the UK – a move that prompted a backlash from as many as 100 Labour MPs including Angela Rayner, who said it was unfair and un-British.
It is understood that the ILR changes are not part of the bill but could be introduced via secondary legislation.
The chief executive of Safe Passage International, Jo Cobley, said: “We were anticipating this 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.
“We are very concerned about these changes, particularly the anticipated restrictions to family reunion for refugees. The unaccompanied children and families we work with, who have been torn apart by war and persecution, must be able to reunite as a family and get the protection they need.
“If the government wants to have more control of its own asylum system, by preventing Channel crossings, it must start by offering refugees safe routes to protection and family.”
The co-chair of the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium, Anita Hurrell, said: “We are concerned about how the measures expected to be in the immigration and asylum bill next week will impact on children including child victims of modern slavery.
“We are worried about whether they could penalise a child for disclosing late or exclude from support children exploited outside the UK. We’re also worried about how tightening the definition of family life and the public interest test could affect children and young people’s ability to reunite and stay together with their family, including for children who have been bereaved and might have different structures.
“Age assessment measures risk leading to more children wrongly assessed as adults in bewildering and unsafe adult asylum system. Legislating a new appeals body is also concerning for access to justice, especially when the government is yet to publish its response to the recent consultation. We urge the government to consider children and undertake and publish a child rights impact assessment.”
I was appalled when our Prime Minister Starmer not only failed to take the unique and priceless opportunity afforded to him as the new PM, to educate, inform and update the UK about both basic and refugee immigration, including the current alarmingly low net total, which I believe is NOT widely known, and then ape Farages divisive policies and language on the subject!
A few months in, Mahmoods appointment to home secretary was like a sucker punch to the gut.
A Pritti Patel/Suella Braverman style drawbridge puller, her appointment must delight Reform but has turned me, a lifelong Labour voter, Green.
When I read that Palestinian land and homes in the occupied West Bank were openly promoted to Jews at a homebuying conference in a London synagogue, I finally wanted Starmer out. I’m desperately ashamed of UK complicity in the current Nakba in PALESTINE, by proxy to Isreal.
Not only are London anti-genocide protest marches in support of Palestinian freedom under threat from our LABOUR government, on the grounds that British Jews (subjectively) feel threatened by the truth (presumably it’s scary losing ), a counter RALLY unnecessarily but deliberately planned on the SAME date, actually has Mahmoods permission to go ahead, despite the organiser, Tommy Robinson’s, well documented history of disruptive xenophobic racist fascism.
Contrast this permission with the last minute revocation of TYT journalist Cenk Yugur’s UK visa because he is “not conducive to the public good” and likely to criticise Israeli terrorism and war crimes in the “wrong way”. I NEVER thought the UK would have a government that suppresses free speech.
Unbelievably we are in the odious position of living under a LABOUR government willing to go down in history as a civil rights destroyer, bizarrely our government has obediently swallowed Tory/Reform rhetoric on immigrants (anyone remember Teresa May …
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How hypocritical, herself being from parents who came to the UK she would treat others so poorly.
When the UK needed overseas workers after the war, it was them that helped build the economy!
There are echoes of ICE where families and children are separated.
This ‘immigrant’ bandwagon is a deadly disease based on false ideology of Nationalism. They still see black and brown people as immigrants rather than equal human beings.
The hypocrisy is bemusing.
It reminds me of Yolande Lopes art/protest – ‘Who you calling immigrant, pilgrim?’
Just two questions for Ms Mahmood;
How did your parents get to the UK?
WHY did they come to the UK?
Surprised she has not been asked this in Parliament or by the media.