Andy Burnham Votes for Labour’s Draconian Immigration Crackdown

Andy Burnham, Britain’s next prime minister, voted in favour of home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s authoritarian immigration bill last night.

He did so even after more than 80 Labour backbenchers wrote to warn him that the party is “losing progressive voters” due to Mahmood’s authoritarian stance.

The bill means successful asylum seekers, once they start earning, will be charged up to £10k for any accommodation and financial support they received while waiting for their claims to be processed. People awaiting a decision on their asylum claim in the UK are generally not allowed to work, meaning they have little choice but to accept state help. 

Rights groups have condemned the policy as an “extra tax on refugees” fleeing war, torture and persecution. Child asylum seekers whose claims aren’t resolved until after they turn 18 will also be liable. 

The immigration and asylum bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons with 264 votes to 90 on Monday evening, with 14 Labour MPs rebelling.

The new legislation will make it easier for the government to deport people seeking asylum in the UK by tightening the application of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights – which protects the right to private and family life – in order to make it more difficult to appeal asylum decisions. 

It will replace immigration judges with a new system of independent adjudicators in an attempt to speed up decision-making and cut backlog. However, Amnesty International criticised the move as “the first time the system has been made less independent and less professional”. 

Apsana Begum, MP for Poplar and Limehouse, posted on X that she had voted against the bill because its provisions are “performative and cruel”.

Mahmood announced further amendments to the bill on Monday that included plans to allow the deportation of long-term Commonwealth citizens convicted of serious crimes – like the leader of the Rochdale grooming gang. 

Burnham officially secured the Labour leadership on Monday after receiving an extra 27 nominations from MPs. His total is now 349, meaning no other candidate can reach the 81 needed to enter a leadership contest.