The Walthamstow MP has heavily criticised plans by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to end permanent status for refugees, reports Marco Marcelline
Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy has slammed the Labour government’s planned overhaul of the asylum system, calling the plans “performatively cruel and economically misjudged”.
The Labour and Co-operative Party MP made the comments in an opinion piece for The Guardian today (17th November).
Creasy’s criticism comes in the wake of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s “Denmark-style” plans to end permanent status for refugees, meaning they would need to reapply to remain in Britain every two-and-a-half years. If their home country is deemed safe, they could be deported.
Mahmood is also planning to extend from five years to 20 the amount of time refugees have to wait to apply for indefinite leave to remain, which can lead to British citizenship.
In response, Creasy wrote the plans would require “ICE-style raids” to remove people and their children from the country.
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is a United States government agency that has come under fire from left-wing politicians, activists and human rights groups for its family separations and deportations of undocumented migrants and detention of US citizens.
Referencing the previous Conservative government’s failed Rwanda agreement, Creasy wrote: “The insanity of a ‘deterrent’ involving deporting four people to Rwanda at a price of £700million is now giving way to ministers breaking more than 70 years of convention to offer not sanctuary but suspicion. If and when we give someone sanctuary, the progressive response should be to make integration easier and a priority – not leave them open to exploitation through uncertainty.”
Creasy’s discomfort with the plans is shared by a number of Labour MPs, with Nottingham member Nadia Whittome saying in the Commons today that the “cruel…Denmark-style policies are dystopian and shameful”.
Today’s Guardian opinion piece isn’t the first time the Walthamstow MP has come out against her party’s policy; in November 2023, she voted for a ceasefire in Gaza, defying Labour whips’ instruction to abstain, while in July 2025 the backbencher joined 46 other Labour rebels in voting against the government’s controversial welfare reforms.
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