Angela Rayner‘s demand for the Government to scrap tougher immigration rules could lead to the resignation of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, it has been claimed.
In a speech widely seen as firing the starting gun for a leadership bid, Ms Rayner said last week that plans to double the time which most migrants must wait to secure a permanent right to remain in the UK were ‘un-British’ and a ‘breach of trust’.
Ms Mahmood had announced the policy in an attempt to stem the haemorrhage of support from Labour to Nigel Farage‘s party, Reform UK, in working-class Red Wall seats.
But Ms Rayner – with an eye on MPs on the Labour Left – complained that the plans had led migrants to ‘fear for their future’ due to the prospect of the Government ‘moving the goalposts’, and showed that the public now regarded Labour as representing ‘the establishment’.
Last night, close allies of the Home Secretary claimed that she could not accept ‘meddling’ with her far-reaching reforms, with one claiming that Ms Mahmood had told the Prime Minister that ‘if I can’t do my job, I won’t do my job’.
Both the Home Office and No10 denied that Ms Mahmood had warned Sir Keir Starmer last week that she would quit if her reforms were watered down.
But Ms Mahmood’s ally insisted to The Mail on Sunday that she had told the PM that ‘if there was any meddling’ with her plans she would resign.
The ally also accused former Deputy Prime Minister Ms Rayner of picking a fight with the Home Secretary because she saw her as a future Labour leadership rival.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood could hand in her notice following Angela Rayner ‘s demand for the Government to scrap tougher immigration rules
People thought to be migrants arrived in Gravelines, France, onboard a small boat last November
Ms Mahmood is understood to feel increasingly exposed and isolated since last month’s departure of No 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who had placed the immigration crackdown at the centre of his attempt to turn around Sir Keir’s fortunes.
One hundred Labour rebel MPs have also condemned the plans to double the time which most migrants must spend in the UK before qualifying for permanent residence from five to ten years and are now pushing to force a Commons vote on the issue.
Labour rebel leader Tony Vaughan, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, has claimed the reforms will end up costing the Treasury ‘billions’ by deterring skilled migration to the UK.
Ms Mahmood has staked her political reputation on toughening immigration rules in the face of opposition from both within her own party and from liberal critics.
In a defence of the proposals, she told the Commons last year that she knew how divisive migration was because she herself was regularly called ‘a f***ing P*** and told to go back home’.
She urged MPs to back her reforms, saying that ‘to the British public, who foot the bill, the [immigration] system feels out of control and unfair’.
Labour MPs in the party’s Northern heartlands insist that more Labour MPs back Ms Mahmood on the issue than Ms Rayner.
One of those MPs took aim at Ms Rayner’s ‘un-British’ remark to say: ‘What the hell is un-British about doing what you promise in politics, which is controlling our borders and establishing a fair and managed migration system that is run in the national interest?’
And in a veiled jibe at the Prime Minister to show more backbone, the MP added: ‘This Government has got to learn how to take close votes into Parliament, and that’s part of governing this country.’
Speaking about Mr McSweeney’s departure, one Ms Mahmood supporter said: ‘She was the centrepiece of the McSweeney project. So now she is sailing alone, going on the path where she thinks that we should go.’
