Friday briefing: Can the politics of cruelty around asylum help Labour in the polls?

In today’s newsletter: Labour’s new framework marks a decisive shift in how the UK treats people granted protection​ and expos​es tensions between electoral strategy, public service pressures and the party’s historic commitments to human rights Good morning. First, a bit of housekeeping. I return to my community affairs beat on Monday, so what better First Edition to end my secondment on than a story about immigration and asylum. Until now, refugees who came to the UK and were found to have a genuine case for protection could previously settle here permanently. Now, for the first time in British history, that will no longer be the case. Labour’s home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has rewritten the government’s asylum rules so that from Monday every refugee will be told their status is temporary and will last just 30 months. It is part of a package of tough immigration reforms that Mahmood has described as the “most sweeping changes … in a generation”. The reforms are inspired by the hardline Danish model. Mahmood flew to Copenhagen and visited detention centres there. Our home affairs editor Rajeev Syal was part of the press pack that followed her. Today, we dig into what exactly is