‘It’s not enough!’ Robert Jenrick despairs at Britons being ‘sold a pup’ by Shabana Mahmood amid asylum reforms

 Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick MP reacts to Shabana Mahmood’s planned asylum seeker overhaul

The Home Secretary has vowed to restore ‘order and control’ with her overhaul

Robert Jenrick has torn into Shabana Mahmood’s plans to overhaul Britain’s asylum system, declaring Britons are “being sold a pup”.

Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Justice Secretary said the British public “deserve better” and the raft of changes introduced by the Home Secretary “don’t go far enough”.

Ms Mahmood unveiled her sweeping asylum reforms on Monday, pledging faster removals and a new appeals system to restore “order and control”.

Speaking to GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope, she said: “What I am offering is a genuine set of proposals that can fix the broken system that we have and retain public consent for us having an asylum system at all.”

Robert Jenrick has torn into Shabana Mahmood’s asylum system overhaul, declaring it is ‘not enough’

Delivering his verdict, Mr Jenrick told GB News: “I suspect we will support the plans because there are some good things, but it’s not enough.

“I know that some sections of the media have given this a good reaction and fair dues, but I’ve seen this play before. I’ve seen home secretaries stand up and propose incremental change, and it just not work.”

He added: “I actually feel sorry for your viewers tonight sat at home being sold a pup by yet another Home Secretary who’s making promises that they know they cannot deliver.”

Offering the “only solution” to solve the migrant crisis, the Shadow Justice Secretary explained: “The only way to fix this problem is to change our human rights laws, leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and detain and deport absolutely everyone who enters our country illegally.

Shabana Mahmood sat down with GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope to discuss the overhaul | POOL

“It’s only when a Home Secretary and a Prime Minister, frankly, have the courage to do that, they will actually resolve this issue. Otherwise, this will just go on and on and on, causing immense harm to this country, and the British public deserve better than that.”

Patrick Christys put it to Mr Jenrick that the Labour Government would argue this is the “toughest they’ve been” on migration, to which he asserted: “Well, it’s not. Remember in 2023, I legislated with Suella Braverman that if you entered this country illegally, you couldn’t claim asylum.

“What is happening now? Labour are actually repealing that law to say that if you come here illegally on a small boat, you can claim asylum. And yet it might be a slightly different process, maybe you don’t get the right to full settlement in the UK for many years, even 20 years, but you can claim asylum here and I just think that’s fundamentally wrong.”

Stressing that migrants travelling from France to Britain are entering from a “safe country”, the Shadow Justice Secretary said: “There’s nothing unsafe about life in France.”

Mr Jenrick told GB News that Britons ‘deserve better’ than Labour’s asylum plan

“What are they fleeing from? Emmanuel Macron? I mean, if you’re living in France, getting in a small boat, coming to this country, you do not have a leg to stand on.”

He concluded: “So don’t be fooled into thinking what Shabana Mahmood is announcing is the toughest ever measures. Actually, it’s backsliding on where we were before and it’s not going to fix this problem.”

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was more supportive of the changes, telling GB News: “I think the Home Secretary has actually been very brave, because when I saw her standing there, I could see all of the Labour backbenchers looking sick at the announcements that she was making, because they don’t want to cut immigration.

“Let’s support her. There are some things she did announce that we don’t agree with, but she’s going to need our help if she’s going to get this over the line, because Labour don’t like what she’s doing.”

While Ms Badenoch confirmed Tory MPs would support the changes in the Commons, she said the Government will never be able to properly tackle the migrant crisis while Britain remains a part of the ECHR.