Starmer is facing a cocktail of dissent that is growing ever more potent

"Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, pressed ahead with what is intended to be the party's full-throated answer to the competition it faces from Reform UK as she declared an end to permanent refugee status and the removal of state support from some asylum seekers. It immediately put her on a collision course with many Labour backbenchers, but it also left the party's soft-left majority, who had been pushing for a more progressive offering in recent weeks, asking: Is that it?"

"Yet while Keir Starmer's troops expected at least some red meat this week from their party's leadership to counter the Green challenge for economically squeezed traditional Labour voters, his instinctive response was to send a letter to MPs in which he repeated an attack line that sought to paint Zack Polanski's party as extremist."

"Without any progressive offer for Labour MPs, the prime minister now faces a mounting rebellion over Mahmood's plans, which had been intended to at least cauterise the issue of immigration with the public and could create room to lean leftwards."

Labour's home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans to end permanent refugee status and remove state support from some asylum seekers, positioning the party against Reform UK. The policy triggered collision with many Labour backbenchers and disappointed the party's soft-left majority seeking progressive alternatives. Following Labour's defeat in the Gorton and Denton byelection to the Green party, backbenchers expected leadership to address cost-of-living concerns and offer economic solutions for traditional Labour voters. Instead, Prime Minister Keir Starmer sent a letter attacking the Green party as extremist. Senior ministers expressed disappointment that Starmer failed to respond to the electoral loss by discussing living costs. Without progressive policy offerings, Starmer now faces mounting rebellion over Mahmood's immigration plans.

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