Shabana Mahmood’s speech today is dangerous and should be condemned. It demonises and dehumanises refugees in an attempt to appease Reform UK and their racism.
It is a shocking sight to see a Labour government remove refugee rights to stay, threaten to take jewellery off asylum seekers and talk about refugees “tearing Britain apart.”
This echoes the rhetoric of the far right, and was welcomed by fascist Tommy Robinson. But we shouldn’t be surprised – it continues the theme Keir Starmer has been speaking about for months, that Britain is “an island of strangers.”
We won’t stop Reform UK by imitating their scapegoating of migrants, Muslim and refugees. We will stop them by building a politics and movement that confronts the far right and says refugees aren’t to blame for the problems in society.
We will stand with refugees and asylum seekers, defend their right to stay and oppose deportations.