Shabana Mahmood will warn that the scale of small boat arrivals is “breeding fear” as she warns MPs on the left of her party to back her hardline immigration reforms.
It comes as she begins to introducing sweeping changes that will see asylum seekers who break the law or work illegally thrown out of government-funded accommodation and lose financial support.
The home secretary will say that her reforms to the asylum system and permanent settlement are “not a betrayal of Labour values”, but rather “an embodiment of them” as she bids to fight off criticism over the crackdown. The controversial changes are facing significant opposition from campaigners as well as dozens of Labour MPs with some warning that the party face becoming “Reform-lite”.
Ms Mahmood has doubled down on the plans - which make refugee status temporary and introduces much longer waits for permanent residency in the UK - after Labour came a humiliating third place in the Gorton and Denton by-election. The Greens, who called Ms Mahmood’s plans “extreme” and “inhumane”, won the seat and Reform came second.
Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, accused the home secretary of “bullying refugees for a bump in the polls” rather than fixing real problems. Mubeen Bhutta, at the British Red Cross, warned Ms Mahmood: “There is little evidence to suggest that making life harder puts people off coming to the UK, when they have been forced to flee their homes.”
During her speech on Thursday, Ms Mahmood will say that Labour can steer a path between Reform leader Nigel Farage’s “nightmare pulling up the drawbridge and shutting out the world” and Green leader Zack Polanski’s “fairytale of open borders”.
Referring to irregular migration, Ms Mahmood will add: “If we cannot deal with so visible a failure, what can the state achieve at all? It is our creed, as the Labour Party, that the state can and must be a force for good. Without the trust of citizens in the state, therefore, there is no space for Labour values - in any part of government - to be realised.”
While the number of people arriving in the UK on small boats has risen by 13 per cent year-on-year to 45,774 in 2025, this is still lower than the 2022 peak.
More than 100,000 people claimed asylum in the UK last year, slightly down on the year before but still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels, figures released last week show.
Net migration to the UK dropped by two thirds in the 12 months to June 2025, driven by a huge drop in people coming to Britain for work or study. Net migration was an estimated 204,000 - down 69 per cent from 649,000 a year earlier and the lowest annual figure since 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics.
However, the home secretary will warn these numbers are fuelling the rise of the far-right, saying: “When people see small boat arrivals, at their current scale or they feel the pace and scale of migration today, they feel like we have lost control.
“A loss of control breeds fear and when fearful, people turn inwards.” Ms Mahmood will say that this risks fuelling “ethno-nationalism”.
The home secretary will claim in her speech that her reforms offer “a compassionate but controlled asylum system”.
The Home Office has also announced that support payments and accommodation for asylum seekers will be removed if they work illegally or have the ability to support themselves financially. Those who have the right to work or have broken the law will also see these benefits revoked.
The rule change, which comes into force in June, will replace the statutory legal duty under EU law to provide asylum seekers with support and accommodation with a conditional approach.
As of 31 December 2025, there were 107,003 asylum seekers receiving housing or financial support from the Home Office. Of these, 30,657 were living in migrant hotels, and 72,769 were in a different form of accommodation, such as houses of multiple occupancy.
The vast majority of these people are waiting on the outcome of their asylum claim or appeal. A few thousand people also still receiving financial support even though they’ve had a final refusal on their asylum claim. This is to prevent that person becoming destitute.
According to the Home Office, around 21,000 of these migrants could be granted the right to work because they have been waiting for more than 12 months for their asylum claim decision.
Responding to the announcement, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "Labour have deported only 6 per cent of illegal arrivals since coming to office, so rolling out another gimmick will not change a thing."
Mr Hilton added: "The home secretary already has the power to deny support and accommodation to people seeking asylum who are not destitute or who have broken the rules.
"This is the latest in a long line of announcements from successive governments that bullies refugees for a bump in the polls rather than try to solve the real problems faced by people and communities - poverty, homelessness, and the rise of the far right.
"Ministers must end this dangerous race to the bottom and make the case for a UK that welcomes people fleeing war and torture and supports them to rebuild their lives here."
Ms Bhutta said: “These plans risk leaving men, women and children who have already endured the trauma of war and persecution in a perpetual state of limbo, unable to recover or plan for their future.
“We know through our work that there is a real danger that the changes will not only deprive refugees of the stability they need to rebuild their lives but could also push more people into poverty and homelessness.”
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