Can Labour outflank Reform on asylum? MPs are divided
As both anti-asylum and anti-racist protests mount outside hotels, Keir Starmer’s party is trying to take the wind out of Nigel Farage’s sails
Almost exactly three years ago, I was walking along the seafront in Hastings, camera crew in tow, preparing for a report for ITV News. A local tip-off had led me to a hotel housing newly arrived asylum seekers — people who had risked their lives crossing the Channel in small boats, many with no more than the clothes on their backs and hope in their hearts.
I remember speaking to one of them. He was soft-spoken, nervous but determined. He told me his brother was already living in the UK — the only family he had in the west. That, he said, was why he came here. Not for handouts, not to exploit the system, but because he had escaped war and wanted to work and build a life. Having family nearby meant safety. But while his application was being processed, he couldn’t work or leave the hotel. All he could do was wait for the long, slow asylum process to grind forward.
Outside, the mood in town was mixed. Some locals were welcoming. Others were visibly agitated. Too many young men, they said, hanging around with nothing to do. Beaches dotted with clusters of asylum seekers. Tensions bubbling. Government sources at the time insisted it was all temporary, that hotel use would fall, crossings would stop and the system would find its footing again.
Three years on, none of that has happened and we are still talking about the same issue. The boat crossings haven’t slowed, and the political rhetoric and public reaction has grown louder.
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Since David Cameron’s time in Downing Street, successive Conservative governments have made repeated promises to bring immigration numbers down. They have failed. I’ve seen the cycle firsthand, from Priti Patel’s Rwanda plan (which took me all the way to Kigali) to Rishi Sunak’s five-point pledge.
Now, it’s Labour’s turn. Keir Starmer insists his government will succeed where others have failed. Aiming to break the business model of people smugglers is his priority; in the last week, the home secretary Yvette Cooper has announced an additional £100m to tackle the crossings, which will include 300 extra officers at the National Crime Agency and new tech for intelligence-gathering. There’s also the new “one in, one out” agreement with France and tougher penalties for those advertising illegal crossings on social media.
But while the government announces new policies, protests continue outside hotels housing asylum seekers. Arrests have been made. Flares set off. There have been reports that slogans like “send them home” have been chanted. In some towns, anti-racism protesters have arrived too. It’s clear anger is in the air.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is a man who knows how to tap into public frustration. At a press conference this week, I asked him what he would actually do if he were put in charge. His answer was blunt: leave the European Convention on Human Rights and deport anyone arriving on a small boat.
Because it was a press conference, there was no chance for follow-ups — no room for me to ask how much that might cost, or how it would work legally. But that didn’t matter to many watching. His message cuts through. The polls reflect that.
Reform is now leading in some national surveys. Farage has made no secret of his aim: to siphon votes off both the Tories and Labour. And it’s working.
I’ve written for Hyphen before about how Reform is positioning itself as the party of “common sense” on immigration and appealing to voters who feel ignored by Westminster. That threat is real and growing.
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I’ve spent time talking to voters around the country over the last year and I have lost count of the number of times I have heard — often in pretty marginal constituencies — that only Reform and Farage can fix what they believe is a broken asylum system. In many places it does seem like a choice between Labour and Reform; even the prime minister has admitted to me that he sees it this way now that the Tories have, in his words, “run out of road”.
Many Labour MPs know this too. One backbencher, whose constituency is feeling the Reform pressure acutely, put it bluntly: “Small boats and immigration is the number one issue on the doorstep. If we don’t get a grip, I’ll lose my seat and so will plenty of others.”
Another MP warned that every failure only strengthens Farage’s hand. “He just needs people to believe he’s the only one who’d do anything.”
Yet within Labour’s ranks, there are some who passionately disagree. They are an ever shrinking minority as Reform continues to surge, but they remain vocal. One MP told me: “We’ll never out-Reform Reform. If we start playing their game, we’ve already lost.”
The truth is, the boats keep coming, the hotels are still full and the government keeps announcing new policies to try and get immigration down. In places like Hastings, the frustration I saw three years ago hasn’t dissipated. In many cases, it has evolved into fury.
Shehab Khan is an award-winning presenter and political correspondent for ITV News.
