Shabana Mahmood has claimed that Nigel Farage's Reform UK would deport migrants to countries where they could be killed. The Home Secretary delivered the incendiary attack in a major speech as she warned that failing to control the border would fuel the rise of "ethno-nationalism" and the "hard Right".
Ms Mahmood said people who have lived in Britain "for decades, legally with settled status" would "suddenly hear a knock on their door one night, bundled into the back of a van, separated from children and grandchildren and deported from this country that they have made home".
In a long speech in which she took aim at the open borders policy of the Green Party, as well as demanding a "fair" immigration system, she announced a raft of new changes, including doubling the qualifying period of settled status from five to 10 years.
But she also launched a tirade against Mr Farage, saying: "Deportations on the scale that Reform now promise, there is no way of achieving them without sending people back to a country that is not safe, and where, upon return, they could be killed."
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She warned: "Make no mistake, by restoring order to our borders, we are fighting for the very existence of a humane asylum and migration system in this country."
Ms Mahmood insisted that Britons were "open, tolerant and generous".
But she said when people see the scale of small boat crossings, they feel a loss of control, which breeds fear.
She warned: "When fearful, people turn inwards. Their vision of this country narrows, and their patriotism becomes smaller, something darker. Ethno-nationalism emerges."
The Home Secretary added: "The idea of a greater Britain gives way to the lure of a littler England. Voices to the hard-Right take hold.
"If the Left do not secure our borders, the hard-Right will be given the chance to try."
She claimed the "hard Right" would "not be restrained" and would "pull up the drawbridge" on immigration.
The intervention came as Labour outlined new plans that would mean migrants who commit crimes are booted out of asylum accommodation and stripped of their cash handouts.
Ms Mahmood will revoke European laws that automatically provide support to arrivals.
From June, the help will become “conditional” and only given to those “who genuinely need it and follow the law”.
Those who work in Britain’s black economy will also be thrown out of hotels, houses, flats and bedsits funded by taxpayers, alongside foreign criminals and those refusing to leave the UK voluntarily. Some 30,000 migrants could lose their support, officials predicted.
During a visit to Denmark, Ms Mahmood revealed that migrants’ right to permanent asylum will be scrapped. Instead, they will be offered temporary status, which will be reviewed every 30 months.
If their country is deemed safe enough for them to return, they will be sent back. Only children who arrive in the UK unaccompanied will be exempt.
Until now, successful asylum seekers have been granted refugee status for five years and allowed to bring their families to the UK. They then got an almost automatic fee-free permanent settlement with continued access to benefits and housing.
Refugees will also be required to “earn” their settlement rights by working and contributing to society.
They will have to wait up to 20 years before they can apply to settle in the UK – and up to 30 years if they arrived illegally via small boats across the Channel or by claiming asylum after overstaying work, student or visitor visas.
Labour insisted the number of foreign criminals, failed asylum seekers and immigration offenders being deported has been “scaled up” to nearly 60,000 since July 2024.
Ms Mahmood admitted it was a “difficult time” for the Labour Party, and that the party’s identity is being “bitterly” contested on issues like migration.