'STEPS IN RIGHT DIRECTION' BUT IS ASYLUM PLAN DOOMED TO FAIL?

Tory leader backs Shabana Mahmood's crackdown amid opposition from Labour

- MICHAEL KNOWLES Home Affairs Editor

KEMI Badenoch has urged Shabana Mahmood to work with her “in the national interest” to end the asylum crisis and defeat a growing Labour revolt.

The Conservative leader warned that the Home Secretary's plans to overhaul human rights laws and ramp up deportations are “doomed to fail” because they will be blocked by judges.

And Mrs Badenoch predicts that left-wing plotters will leave the government needing support from the Tories to get the proposals through parliament. Comparing it to Labour's bungled plans to slash welfare spending, the Tory leader insisted backbench MPs would conspire again to bring down proposals designed to end abuse of the asylum system.

Mrs Badenoch told MPs: "She seems to get what many on the benches behind refuse to accept.

"Anyone who cannot see by now that simply tinkering with the current system isn't going to fix this problem is either living in la-la-land or being wilfully obstructive. It is a shame it has taken Labour a year in office to realise there is a borders crisis.

"The problem has got worse since Labour came into office and it is getting even worse by the day. What she is announcing is not going to work on its own. Some of these measures will, in fact, take us backwards." The Tory leader added: "We need to be bold, serious and unafraid to do what the British people demand: secure our borders. You can be sure that MPs behind the Home Secretary are already plotting to block any changes she tries to make.