Remove Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary and end ‘performative cruelty’ asylum policies, Alf Dubs tells Burnham
He also called for the government to stop 'using incendiary language' about refugees
Andy Burnham should move Shabana Mahmood out of the home office and ‘rip up’ her policies on asylum if he becomes prime minister, the veteran Labour peer Alf Dubs has said.
Dubs came to the UK from Czechoslovakia in 1939 as part of the Kindertransport which assisted Jews persecuted in Nazi-controlled areas. He has been a fierce advocate for refugee rights within the Labour Party.
Dubs told the Guardian: “I think her talents would be better used elsewhere in cabinet to allow the new PM free rein to put his own stamp on asylum and immigration policy.
“At a time when the party needs unity, I do not believe that Shabana Mahmood’s policies represent the right approach.”
He went on to add: “This is Andy Burnham’s opportunity to correct some of the mistakes that the Starmer government made as regards asylum seekers and refugees.
“The proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain, for instance, which would apply retrospectively to people who came here in good faith and according to the rules, are simply unjust and should be reconsidered.
“We must stand firmly by our commitments under the 1951 refugee convention and the ECHR and not attempt to water them down which is what the current proposals threaten to do.”
Later in his comments to the Guardian, Dubs accused Mahmood’s policies of representing ‘performative cruelty’. He told the newspaper that the government should seek to control the UK’s borders but that “this control should also come with our commitment to basic rights, and compassion for those who are in time of greatest need. Not performative cruelty – like briefing the Home Office would start seizing refugees’ jewellery at the border. Or using incendiary language to blame refugees for ‘tearing our country apart’.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: James Watling / Parsons Media – Creative Commons
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