Mark White delivers damning verdict on Labour’s migration crackdown: 'This could amount to nothing!'

The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is preparing to rewrite major parts of Britain’s asylum framework, including the way the European Convention on Human Rights is interpreted by UK judges.

This is in a bid to prevent asylum seekers using the ECHR's (European Convention on Human Rights) Article 8, under which family life claims are often used to avoid deportation, although early signs suggest the proposals have already sparked fierce divisions across the Labour Party.

Speaking on GB News today Mark said: "I’m not sure there is anything in what the Home Secretary has pre-briefed that, in itself, will make a significant difference.

"Everything taken in the round, the Government hopes, will have an impact but even then they say there is no silver bullet, that it is all part of a wider process of trying to create a more hostile environment for those crossing illegally into the UK.

"To make it much more difficult to claim asylum or to access the benefits that come with being an asylum seeker, such as accommodation."

He added: "Even if the Government says it is going to implement these tough measures, measures which in theory reduce the pull factors, you have a lot of very left-leaning Labour backbenchers who, as we’ve seen previously, have held the Government to ransom.

"They have prevented tough measures from getting through, and therefore the watered-down versions don’t make much of a difference in deterring illegal immigrants.

"I think the biggest challenge here could be trying to convince those rebellious backbenchers that this is a policy worth pursuing.

"We saw the absolute, embarrassing climbdown that the Government was forced into when they tried to make savings in the welfare bill, they made so many changes that it effectively amounted to nothing in terms of savings.

"If we get the same kind of rebellion this time, it could be even more problematic, because this is an issue that is of such importance to people right around the country.

"Probably the number one topic for many people is migration, and in particular illegal migration, and the strains they see it putting on social cohesion in their communities, as well as the day-to-day impact of not being able to get a doctor’s appointment, a school place, and all of the above.”

Ms Mahmood has insisted her plans could unite "a divided country" and fix the asylum system.

She said: "I’m disappointed at the nature of the question from my honorary friend.

"I hope she will look at the detail of the reforms, and what I’ve said already on these matters is that we have a problem, that it is our moral duty to fix, our asylum system is broken.

WATCH: Expert points to 'major flaw' in Labour’s Danish-style migration crackdown: 'Skipping a key deterrent!'

"The breaking of that asylum system is causing huge division across our whole country.”

Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has shared her support for the crackdown, telling reporters: "What we are seeing from the Labour Government is steps in the right direction, so we want to encourage them in that right direction.

"Of course, we have a fully comprehensive borders plan. Some of what we have seen Labour announce is similar but not as much as what we have done.

"We can see that their Labour backbenchers don’t like this, so I have offered that we will support the Government in going in the right direction."