WATCH: Labour's immigration plans will be 'incredibly difficult' to implement, says Helen Whately
Nov 18, 2025
Helen Whately has cautioned Shabana Mahmood's latest immigration proposals face significant implementation challenges.Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary stated: "I think the Home Secretary is going to find it incredibly difficult to put some of the things that she's talking about into practice."FULL STORY HERE.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Helen. Good morning. Morning. What did you make of what the Home Secretary had to say
0:06
there, the biggest reform of the UK's asylum system since the Second World War
0:12
Well, I welcome the fact that the government and the Home Secretary herself is now listening
0:17
to people on immigration and the level of unhappiness there is about the scale of that
0:21
immigration and the small votes. It's taken them over a year to recognise that. They've
0:27
did nothing about it. In fact, the situation has just got worse under them while they have been in government. So they are listening. And I welcome any steps that they plan to
0:35
take to tighten up and stop the votes and control immigration. But the fact is, I still
0:42
don't think that they are going far enough. And I think that the Home Secretary is going
0:45
to find it incredibly difficult to put some of the things that she is talking about into
0:49
practice. She is going to find it very difficult because of the opposition of Labour MPs. In
0:54
herself, it was only a few years ago that she seemed to be calling for an amnesty on legal migrants. She will find it very difficult with her party
1:01
and also because they say they will not pull out of the ECHR, she will find
1:05
it difficult to do in practice because of that problem with lawfare, the thing we encountered when we were in government that made it so hard in
1:11
practice to do the things you want to do to stop immigration. Helen
1:15
Wainley, you have your leader saying that she will support the Prime
1:19
Minister in these measures. One of your policies is a stronger economy
1:23
but stronger borders. You're giving away a load of advantage here to the Labour. If they
1:27
get this right, what, frankly, is the point of the Tories? Not at all We will support things that are in the national interest and we think it in the national interest to have stronger borders So we will support them to make progress on controlling immigration making progress on stopping abodes And we know that that might be particularly important
1:48
because we know lots of Labour backbenchers won't support this. Just as we said with welfare, we will support the government
1:53
because they can't control the welfare bill because Keir Starmer's backbenchers don't support controls on public spending
1:59
and on benefits. So, yes, we'll support them. But as I've said, I simply don't think that they're going to go far enough
2:05
on stopping the boats. I think they're going to get stuck. And one specific thing is that they really need to leave the ECHR
2:12
to achieve proper controls on our borders. Kerry and Badenot looked at that and decided that is going to be necessary
2:19
So unless they do that, I think they're going to get stuck in this lawfare and not be able to make progress
2:23
As part of these plans, asylum seekers would have jewellery or other valuables taken in order to pay for the processing of their cases
2:32
It won't be sentimental items like wedding rings, but it could be things like cars, watches and the like
2:37
Would the Tories support that as well? Well, I think what we support is things that will be serious
2:45
and actually make a difference to people coming here. So, for instance, our position in our borders plan
2:52
is to make it illegal if you come here in a small boat
2:55
and that you will be deported to a third country. That's a sort of serious policy we support
3:00
Of course, we don't want to see people who come here seeking asylum who are receiving large amounts of money perhaps from families overseas
3:06
and receiving money from the taxpayer. That's completely wrong. But I think fundamentally the point is
3:11
and actually this is one of the things that the Home Secretary mentioned in her statement yesterday in Parliament
3:15
they're going to look at doing agreements with third countries. Why do they get rid of the agreement that we had in place with the third country
3:20
where people could have been deported to
#Visa & Immigration
#news
#Politics
#Public Policy


