GB News Political Correspondent Olivia Utley has warned that Sir Keir Starmer could face major backlash from within his own party over Labour’s immigration reforms, with left-wing MPs threatening to derail the Prime Minister’s plans.
She said Labour backbenchers believe asylum seekers must have the right to have their cases heard by judges from the very start, setting the stage for a showdown that could force yet another humiliating U-turn.
Her comments come as it is revealed that the Prime Minister intends to push through sweeping changes to Britain’s asylum appeals process, replacing the current tribunal system with a new commission staffed by Home Office-appointed adjudicators.
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Olivia Utley revealed that the Prime Minister could face another rebellion
|GB NEWS
Speaking to Ben Leo on GB News, Olivia explained: "All of these people are getting through. What Yvette Cooper wants to do is replace the first-tier tribunal judges, effectively one layer of the judiciary, with adjudicators, people employed directly by the Home Office.
"The hope is that these adjudicators would 'tighten the belt', so to speak, and allow far fewer people through.
"Now, whether it would work is another question. The main problem Labour may face is that, despite holding a huge working majority, Keir Starmer has often struggled to use it.
"When he tried to push through unpopular welfare changes, for example, he was forced into a last-minute U-turn to avoid serious embarrassment in the Commons.
"On top of that, there are plenty of left-wing Labour MPs who believe asylum seekers have a human right to have their cases heard by judges from the very start.
"They could cause real trouble for the leadership, and if this legislation reaches the Commons, there’s a risk of rebellion that might water the plans down.
"Even if Cooper’s proposals passed in their current form, it still wouldn’t be plain sailing for the Government.
"Yes, new cases might be processed more quickly, but the fundamental problem remains the backlog.
"At the moment, it takes an average of 372 days more than a year for an asylum case to go from first hearing to a final decision.
"In that time, tens of thousands of migrants are being housed in hotels across the UK, with thousands more arriving every few weeks.
The Prime Minister intends to push through sweeping changes to Britain’s asylum appeals process
| PA"So, while the reforms might widen the bottleneck slightly, the bottle itself is already overflowing."
The radical restructuring aims to accelerate deportations and reduce the financial strain of housing migrants in hotels, which currently costs taxpayers more than £5.4billion each year across over 200 facilities nationwide.
The proposed legislation, expected within weeks when Parliament returns, would grant the new statutory body powers to fast-track cases involving asylum seekers in government-funded accommodation and foreign nationals subject to deportation proceedings.