FURIOUS Shabana Mahmood today launched a blistering broadside against a virtue-signalling MP slamming her asylum reforms.
The Home Secretary blasted that she is repeatedly called a “f***ing p***”, as she urged ignorant politicians not to turn a blind eye to the consequences of uncontrolled immigration.
During a heated Commons debate, Lib Dem MP Max Wilkinson insisted that concerns about illegal migration are mainly restricted to bigots and racists.
In a powerful intervention, Ms Mahmood hit back: “I wish I had the privilege of walking around this country and not seeing the division that the issue of migration and asylum system is creating across this country.
“Unlike him, unfortunately, I am the one that is regularly called a f***ing P*** and told to go back home.
“It is I who knows through my personal experience and that of my constituents just how divisive the issue of asylum has become in our country.
“And I do say to him, I wish it were possible to say that there isn’t a problem here, that there’s nothing to see, and that it is all, in fact, just extremist right wing talking points.
“But this system is broken, and it is incumbent on all members of parliament to acknowledge how badly broken the system is, and to make it a moral mission to fix this system so that it stops creating the division that we all see.”
Ms Mahmood soon after apologised for using expletives.
She was asked to say sorry by the Deputy Speaker of the Commons, who said: “That language that is not acceptable in this house and it does not become acceptable if it is attributed to others.”
It came after the Home Secretary announced the biggest shake-up of Britain’s asylum system in decades – with a hard-hitting package aimed at cutting arrivals and speeding up removals.
Under the biggest shake-up of Britain’s asylum rules in decades, officials will begin offering dedicated family return payments to help households with children travel back to their home country.
If they turn the offer down, the case will be escalated straight to enforced family removal, which will end a long-standing reluctance across successive governments to deport children.
The Home Office does not currently prioritise the return of families even if their asylum claims have been rejected.
Ms Mahmood says this has created “perverse incentives” whereby migrants bring kids on dangerous Channel crossings to bolster their chances of being able to stay in Britain.
The Home Office said today: “Once in the UK, asylum seekers are able to exploit the fact that they have had children and put down roots in order to thwart removal, even if their claim has been legally refused.”
The shift to prioritising their removal is expected to affect hundreds of households, including around 700 Albanian families who have remained in Britain despite having their asylum claims rejected.
Under the fresh crackdown, the Home Office will also trial beefed-up cash offers for migrants who agree to leave Britain voluntarily.
These boosted payments will come in above the current £3,000 voluntary-return deals, with ministers hoping fatter cheques will get more people on planes long before cases drag into costly enforcement.
Officials say voluntary return is the cheapest option, with enforced removals needing charter flights, escorts, months of casework and endless legal wrangling.
Ms Mahmood tonight defended her hardline package against horrified Labour left-wingers, saying her curbs match the “scale of the challenge we face”.
More than 400,000 migrants have claimed asylum in the past four years – 106,000 of which are currently enjoying taxpayer-funded support.
And more than half of refugees are languishing on benefits eight years after they first arrived.
Hitting back at her backbench critics, Ms Mahmood said: “To the British public who foot the bill, the system feels out of control and unfair. It feels that way because it is.
“The pace and scale of change has destabilized communities. It is making our country a more divided place.”
Her hardline restrictions have already come under criticism from Labour MPs.
Several have hit out at Ms Mahmood’s plan to prohibit refugees claiming permanent residency until they have been here 20 years – up from five.
Two said they were particularly worried about the plans to ramp up deportations of refugee families, including those with children.
Labour MP for Folkestone Tony Vaughan last night urged ministers to “think again”.
He wrote on X: “The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road.
“These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning. The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
“We absolutely need immigration controls. And where those controls decide to grant asylum, we should welcome and integrate, not create perpetual limbo and alienation.
“The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities.”
Veteran Labour MP and former shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, also wrote: “Tony Vaughan is one of the new MPs elected for Labour last year and in his contributions to Commons debates has displayed a considered approach to issues.
“He’s certainly not what the media would call a ‘usual suspect’. I suspect he is reflecting here what many in the [Parliamentary Labour Party] feel.”
Sir Keir Starmer today insisted the case for stronger borders is “devastatingly simple”.
The PM said: “If we want to see fewer channel crossings, less exploitation and a fairer system with safe and legal routes, we need an approach with a stronger deterrent effect and rules that are robustly enforced.”
The restrictions are part of what ministers are calling the biggest overhaul of the asylum system since WWII.
The Home Secretary will set out all of the measures in a statement to MPs later today.
Illegal migrants will be limited to one single appeal, ending what Ms Mahmood calls “endless legal game-playing”.
Judges will be told to put public safety first, with Article 8 family-life claims of the European Convention on Human Rights restricted to immediate family only.
Article 3 rules on “inhuman treatment” will be tightened with allies to stop criminals citing poor prison conditions overseas to dodge removal.
Refugee status will become temporary, reviewed every 30 months, with people sent home once their country is safe.
Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp blasted the plans as “tinkering” and demanded ministers quit the ECHR.
He said: “These plans do not go anything near far enough and will not stop illegal immigration.
“We have an illegal immigration crisis that is threatening to break Britain. Channel crossings have surged since the election.
“Asylum claims have hit a record level and numbers in hotels have gone up since since July 2024. In just the 75 days since Shabana Mahmood became Home Secretary, 10,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the channel.
HORROR TOWN
Our once proud town is besieged by masked machete yobs – even cops are targets
CRUEL ORDEAL
I was blinded & my pals were killed by dangerous trend in Brit holiday hotspot
“This calls for a radical response – pulling out of the ECHR to enable all illegal immigrants to be deported within a week of arrival.
“Tinkering with the definition of ECHR Article 8, trying to renegotiate Article 3 with 45 other countries or giving illegal immigrants a 20 year path to settlement will not fix this crisis.”