THE Labour Party is in dire straits in the polls, and yet there are some in the Cabinet who clearly feel that the answer is still chasing Reform UK into the sewer on immigration and asylum. Unfortunately, one of those Cabinet members is the Home Secretary.

The proposals made on changes to the asylum and immigration system channel the spirit of Enoch Powell, “sending them back” even if they were invited here or have been established here for decades.

You would never imagine that an even worse government is waiting in the wings and will use these powers in a consciously vicious way that even a badly misguided Labour Home Secretary cannot.

It is no accident that Shabana Mahmood has made her announcements shortly before the Budget. It is classic Blue Labour/Labour Together policy mix that amounts to reactionary nonsense. This is to offer fake protection to the poor (in reality, all ordinary workers and the poor are being clobbered, while the banks and big energy firms are left untouched), while offering those imagined workers “reassurance” on border security.

In reality, draconian new policies on asylum and immigration are meant to serve their traditional roles as a distraction and for scapegoating, in the hope ordinary people do not notice their real takehome pay is declining and public services are deteriorating.

However, it is clear to me that people do notice the pernicious game that is being played. This is true among MPs but especially among Labour Party members, black, Asian and anti-racist Labour Party members are disgusted by these pronouncements, anti-racist members the same. As a result, abstentionism by former Labour supporters is only like to grow and Nigel Farage’s path to No 10 becomes even easier.

The entire framework is wrong. Mahmood says that “dark forces are stirring up anger” over migration. That is exactly what it is. But the idea that you can appease the lynch mob by standing at their head and handing them over a small number of victims is grotesque. That is feeding the beast and they will devour far more, including people who simply have the “wrong colour” skin once their appetites are whetted.

We know this already because the Home Secretary’s announcements were welcomed by both Farage and “Tommy Robinson.” They do not see the new policies as a defeat for them; they smell victory.

Under the plans refugees will never permanently settle here, but their circumstances will be constantly under review. This creates a society where genuine refugees, whose asylum claims have been accepted, will always have suitcases packed in case the British authorities force them to return because their country of origin is deemed safe.

In recent times, Rwanda was deemed “safe” and a law was even passed to that effect. It patently is not. Or, further back in history, it is widely understood that Jews fleeing the Nazis found it extremely difficult to attain asylum here, and we celebrate only the tiny minority of those who tried and were successful.

Now under these rules, Lord Alf Dubs could be removed back to a country that no longer exists, Czechoslovakia.

There is also a proposed change which would prevent refugees from seeking citizenship for 20 years, rather than five years currently. This is purely performative cruelty, with no practical benefit to either the state or the people of this country. So was the initial idea that personal belonging especially jewellery would be seized, which may be watered down under pressure.

The proposals that further undermine the right to a family life are scandalous degeneration. The new rules further erode family rights by granting Home Office officials the power to adjudicate on those relationships and whether they are strong enough to warrant residency. The department that oversaw the Windrush scandal is not equipped to make those judgements.

The proposals would also allow the Home Office to withdraw any financial support or access from families even where there are children under 18. It is reported that two government departments, housing and education, have objected that the plans would breach current laws on child protection and homelessness, and leave people destitute and wandering the streets.

The list goes on, shot through with cruelty towards both migrants and asylum-seekers, representing a crass attempt to ape Reform UK.

But the policies also have wider implications. Hate crime rose again in the year to April. Two-thirds of all hate crime is racist hate crime, over 82,000 in 12 months. That is well over 1,500 crimes every week. This is three times the level recorded 10 years ago, at a time when overall crime has been falling.

Racism, including violent racism has been politically whipped up over the same period. As the political “concern” about immigration has risen in opinion polls, racist street violence has risen in parallel. On the right of the political spectrum this has been a conscious choice.

It is a determined effort to divert blame for the economic crisis from where it properly belongs and blame black and Asian people instead.
The reason it has met with so much initial success is that the “centre” has not confronted the racists but chosen to pander to them instead. The alternative argument is that, “no, migrants are not to blame. It is the banks and big businesses who caused the financial crash and the surge in inflation. We will tax them to invest our way to recovery and improve public services and living standards.”

But of course, the centre cannot make that argument because it has no intention of implementing that programme.

But these new policy announcements are a new degeneration. They are not pandering to the racist political forces. They are joining them.

The supposed motivation for all is the defeat of the far right, Denmark-style. Except that the Danish Social Democrats have just been trounced in elections, having pioneered these draconian immigration and asylum policies. It will not work here either.

The Labour leadership could have emulated the Spanish Socialists instead. There, the prime minister repeatedly says immigrants are 10 per cent of the population, generate 25 per cent of the economy and claim just 1 per cent of benefits. A similar pattern will be true here.

Looking ahead, the labour movement will be a prime target of a Reform-led government, as its response to the Budget shows. As a result, the labour movement has every incentive to oppose Reform UK, and everything that bolsters its politics, even if emanates from a Labour government.

Diane Abbott is Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington