Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is facing a backlash from Labour backbenchers over her more hardline approach to asylum policy – as her allies claimed her policies are driving down small boat numbers.
Andy Burnham’s allies on the left of the party are urging the new Prime Minister to “rethink” policy and “change the narrative” on migration, claiming that Labour risks playing into the hands of Reform UK.
But Home Office sources told The i Paper that Burnham has thrown his full weight behind Mahmood’s tougher approach to tackling the small boats crisis, including ending permanent refugee status and increasing deportations.
It comes as 173 people had to be rescued from a “mega-dinghy” in the English Channel after its engine caught fire, as smuggling gangs increasingly resort to larger craft.
After a fortnight of announcements on cost of living policies, which has seen Labour overtake Reform in the polls for the first time in a year, Burnham is now having to face up to the small boats challenge which has dogged prime ministers for the last six years.
He said earlier this week that he would be “relentless” in curbing Channel crossings, as the Home Office announced an increase in the number of National Crime Agency officers tackling smuggling gangs.
Mahmood believes plan is starting to work
The Home Office believes that its strategy of breaking up gangs and increasing policing on the French coast is beginning to bear fruit. The 2,316 small boat arrivals in July marked the lowest number of crossings since 2020, despite the extraordinarily good weather.
Sources say the department is working well with the new No 10 operation and feel that Burnham backs Mahmood’s approach.
The Home Office sees its strategy as three-pronged: increasing pressure on the smuggling networks in a continuation of Starmer’s effort to “smash the gangs”; increasing migrant returns; and deterring crossings through moves such as making refugee status temporary.
With a rising number of French officers deployed to the beaches under a £662m patrols deal struck with Paris in September, the Home Office thinks crossings will become even harder in the months ahead.
Shabana Mahmood kept her job in Burnham’s reshuffle (Photo: Rasid Necati Aslim/Getty)The department’s assessment is that the gangs’ supply chains for boats and engines also lack resilience, meaning continued equipment seizures will have a significant impact in disrupting their trade.
Home Office sources refused to be drawn on whether Mahmood would like to extend or expand the one-in, one-out pilot scheme, which expires in October, and would require further negotiation with the French.
Burnham needs ‘rethink’ on asylum plan, say Labour MPs
But some Labour MPs on the left are wary of Burnham giving Mahmood too much power, and want him to rein in his Home Secretary when it comes to asylum policy.
They are still angry about the her controversial Immigration and Asylum Bill, which would tighten the use of human rights law in deportation cases and make it more difficult for refugees to settle permanently.
As revealed by The i Paper earlier this month, nearly 80 Labour MPs have signed a letter calling on Burnham to “pause” the proposal.
Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, said “a rethink and a fresh approach” was needed from the new PM on asylum policy. “I like the tone from Andy Burnham about fairness and compassion. Because it hasn’t been part of the narrative from the Home Office in the past two years,” she said.
Maskell would like to see safe and legal routes for refugees, and wider, closer co-operation with the EU on returns policy. “We need closer partnership. We can’t do this in isolation,” she added.
PM must ‘find sweet spot’ to take on Reform
Kim Johnson, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said she hoped Burnham could stop the Government “pandering to the manufactured hysteria around small boats”. She also called for him to establish “greater co-operation with our European neighbours and expanding safe and legal routes”.
Burnham at HM Coastguard Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Dover on Sunday (Photo: Jack Taylor/Getty)One Labour MP, an ally of Burnham, said many on the left did not trust Mahmood because of the “disgraceful and appalling” legislation.
“There is an opportunity to change the narrative. Andy needs to find the sweet spot,” they told The i Paper. “He can get tough on tackling people smugglers and control borders, but we also safe and legal routes. We need to stop giving in to Reform rhetoric, and stop demonising asylum seekers.”
But another Labour MP said Mahmood had a lot of support inside the party to carry on with the small boats crackdown and take on Reform. “She’s doing a brilliant job – I wouldn’t want anyone else there,” they said.
The Home Office has vowed to bring in new “capped safe and legal” routes for refugees later this year.
‘I’m not sure Burnham has stomach for tough measures’
A former policy adviser at the Home Office, who worked under Conservatives, said Labour’s current small boats plan was not going to solve the problem, however.
“Burnham can probably sell things better. But if people keep coming, month after month, then it will be a very sticky issue for him,” they said. “I’m not sure [Burnham] or people working for him have the stomach to take really tough measures.”
The ex-adviser said the “one in, one out” plan was “unlikely to work” because it was “relatively small numbers”. Helping fund patrols in France was “money for nothing”, they added – arguing that it only delayed migrants’ crossings.
Only 4 per cent of small boat arrivals have been returned to France under the “one in, one out” agreement forged by Starmer last year, it emerged on Tuesday.
Government figures show that 1,087 small boat arrivals were returned to France between August 2025 to June 2026 – compared to the 27,920 migrants who arrived in the UK on small boats.
It is not clear whether Burnham will choose to renew or even extend the returns deal with France, which is due to expire in October.
Reform UK called the numbers sent back to France “pathetic” and criticised Burnham for going on holiday this week rather than dealing with a summer surge in Channel crossings. “A serious PM would be dealing with the invasion – not sunning himself,” said Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf.
A Home Office spokesperson said the Government was “bearing down” on the crossings and the removal of small boat arrivals. “We have removed or deported almost 70,000 people who were here illegally – an increase of 41 per cent – and are going further to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to this country,” they added.
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