Luke loves a migrant

Home Office @ukhomeoffice Britain will always be an open, tolerant and generous country. We will now open new safe and legal routes, starting this autumn, by opening a new student refugee route, with the first arrivals in autumn 2027. Shabana Mahmood Home Secretary

Autumn 2027!!! A year and a half away!!!

Having closed routes, halted family reunification, and blocked work and study visas for people seeking safety, among other things, Labour actively trying to claim this is anything vaguely like a genuine"safe route" shows how detached from reality they are.

While people feel the foundations of their lives are shaking, this deep crisis will continue | Clive Lewis The partisan debate since the Gorton and Denton byelection risks blinding us to the truth. People are rejecting wholesale the way our politics has developed, says Labour MP Clive Lewis

@labourlewis.bsky.social is right.

But what is he going to do about it? What are Labour going to do about it?

Crackdowns on peaceful protest
Support for Conservative benefit cuts
Blaming migrants for failing public services

As Labour keeps moving right. The question is: How low do they want to go?

Absolutely right

Again, as with Guardian article, Mahmood's reliance on false/deliberately misleading claims about her "earned settlement" proposals suggests that she knows she can't defend them on the merits, in principle or in practice.

"It's performative cruelty."

@rachelmillward.bsky.social speaks to Sky about Labour's lurch to the right on asylum policy - and why the Green Party is focused on real solutions to the cost of living instead.

Female athletes must pay £185 to prove their sex Matt Lawton - Chief Sports Correspondent British female track and field athletes are being asked to pay £185 for a sex test if they want to compete internationally. World Athletics requires all athletes to take an SRY gene test before competing in the female category at major championships and Diamond League events to guarantee fair competition by excluding trans and DSD (differences of sex development) competitors. Before the World Championships in Tokyo last September, World Athletics gave $100 per test for the thousand or so female athletes needing one. More money will be provided by the international federation for this year’s World Junior Championships. But British women have been advised by UK Athletics (UKA) to pay for the test themselves, urging them to have the cheek swab, which indicates the presence of a Y chromosome, “as soon as possible to avoid delays around selection”. However, some women have complained it is unfair when the test is not required for men. UKA has a hardship fund to pay for the test and will assess requests on a case-by-case basis. But the situation is symptomatic of a national federation already facing financial challenges, made worse by UK Sport cutting its funding for this Olympic cycle. While almost £32 million was given to the relatively niche sports that won five medals at last month’s Winter Olympics, athletics has had its funding cut from £22.18 million to £20.45 million despite winning ten medals in 2024. It was only last year UKA returned to some form of financial stability, posting a profit of £107,588. But it is now facing a big fine after admitting corporate manslaughter over the death of Abdullah Hayayei, who died in 2017 after a metal cage fell on him while he was training for the World Para Athletics Championships in London.

"Feminism" [Times]

The Representation of the People Bill contains some useful measures, but it must go further – put proportional representation on the statute books, shut loopholes that let dark money in, and modernise media platform oversights to stop misinformation and disinformation.

We’ve heard a lot of pious talk from the PM an senior colleagues about populists who offer false solutions and ignore real problems. Yet here we have the Home Secretary offering a false solution while she and her Treasury colleagues ignore real problems.

First MP by-election win, record high polling, and over 15,000 new members... the Green Party is on the up 📈

More than 2,000 people a day have joined us since our historic win in Gorton and Denton 🥳

Be part of the movement which is making hope normal again 💚

Join now ⤵️

We've just hit 215,000 members.

More than 2,000 people a day have joined us since our historic win in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Come and be a part of the movement which is making hope normal again. Join us 👇

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

Gorton and Denton showed that people are desperate for a different kind of politics.

But Labour have doubled down: with smears, misrepresentation, and BNP-inspired migration policy.

How low will Labour go? 📉

Greens deputy leader calls for apology from Starmer over false claims that led to death threats Mothin Ali fears for his life after anti-war protest was wrongly described as being in support of Iranian regime The deputy leader of the Green party has demanded an apology from Keir Starmer after the prime minister appeared to back false claims he protested in support of the Iranian regime, which led to him receiving death threats. Mothin Ali said he was “so scared” that the racist threats had increased to a point where “it feels like this time it might get me killed”. Continue reading...

Greens deputy leader calls for apology from Starmer over false claims that led to death threats

Badenoch gives a borderline disgraceful performance at PMQs on Iran | John Crace At times like this you have to thank your lucky stars that the opposition leader is not in Downing Street

I listen to a French Canadian news broadcast every morning. Today, I was surprised to hear them cover Kemi Badenoch speaking in HoC on Iran. And NOT in a positive way.

She and her Tories are a national embarrassment.

This is so accurate 💀

Starmer: “We are going to kill every first-born child.”

Normal person: “That’s horrible!”

Labour activist: “Oh, so I suppose you want Reform to win!”

Opinion Restoring order at the border speaks to Labour values. Without that, we won't be able to do anything else at all Shabana Mahmood Our approach, unlike that of the Greens and Reform, is in step with the British people. They don't want extremes - they want a system that is managed and fair Shabana Mahmood is the UK home secretary

This is a hot mess of outright lies and misinformation from the Home Secretary, designed to try and persuade people that a government which is implementing some of the most hostile anti-immigration/asylum policies, in practice, for decades is progressive. 1/

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Migration is part of what makes this country great.

We're not an island of strangers - we're an island of neighbours.

The Green Party will always support fair & managed migration.

Your regular reminder than a large majority of voters - and overwhelming majority of Labour voters - favour giving settled migrants access to the welfare state after five years or less. The Home Secretary is not reforming rules in line with public opinion. She is doing the opposite.

Restoring order at the border speaks to Labour values. Without that, we won’t be able to do anything else at all | Shabana Mahmood Our approach, unlike that of the Greens and Reform, is in step with the British people. They don’t want extremes – they want a system that is managed and fair, says home secretary Shabana Mahmood

Utter delusion. This is not what people voted Labour for in 2024. I was one of them and now I knock doors for the Greens.

Labour's asylum and immigration reforms are far-right extremist. Reform's plans may be worse but that doesn't make this any less true.

Hannah Spencer MP

The far-right content creator Shabana Mahmood is providing exclusive content for GB News.

This says a whole lot more about the Guardian than it does about Reform.

Solidarity, Mothin 💚

⚖️ "It's the principled thing to do, to ensure every vote counts equally."

💬 Our Vice-Chair @elliechowns.bsky.social also used the Second Reading of the Representation of the People Bill to call for electoral reform.

💯 Most of the public agree: our voting system urgently needs an update.

Dear Prime Minister, In recent days we have seen a deeply concerning escalation in conflict in the Middle East following a series of illegal and dangerously irresponsible airstrikes on Iran by the United States and Israel. You have now confirmed that UK bases will be used by the US for their operations in the area. This is a significant concession to President Donald Trump and one which risks drawing the UK into a dangerous conflict. During your campaign to be elected leader of the Labour Party, you spoke compellingly about learning the lessons of the Iraq war. In particular, you set out legislation you would pass as Prime Minister, ensuring that military action is only taken if: • The lawful case for it is made • There is a viable objective • Consent is given by the House of Commons. We agree that such legislation is needed to prevent the UK from being dragged into destructive, illegal and dangerous wars abroad, and so we have today tabled the Armed Conflict (Requirements) Bill. The Bill requires that 1. Before armed forces may be deployed for armed conflict, a Minister of the Crown must publish a statement setting out the reasons for the deployment, an assessment of its compliance with international law, the objective of the deployment and an assessment of the viability of that objective, and 2. Any such deployment must be approved in advance by a resolution of the House of Commons

I invite your support to pass this bill. In an increasingly unstable world, it is more important than ever that decisions about the UK’s involvement in military action abroad are taken carefully, soberly, and with the best interests of the British people at heart. We believe this piece of legislation would ensure that. Yours sincerely, Dr Ellie Chowns MP

Today I tabled a bill which would require any UK military intervention to have a lawful basis, viable objective, and approval by MPs - legislation the PM once said he himself would pass when he was running for Labour leader.

He supported it then, and he should support it now.

Some real-world examples of how the Labour government is screwing over skilled migrant workers. Worth a read!

We have filed supplemental evidence to GANHRI on the EHRC. Raising concerns about health impacts, lack of EIAs, no trans stakeholder engagement and opaque AI use in the 50k+ consultation. A rights regulator should not be a risk to the people it exists to protect.

tacc.org.uk/2026/03/02/e...

Wow.

The Green Party aren't just in second place on 21%.

They are FIVE points ahead of Labour.

The Gorton and Denton by-election is convincing Labour voters the Greens aren't a wasted vote.

And they're just 2 points behind Reform!