Shabana Mahmood vows to stick with hardline migration policies after byelection defeat

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, visits a migrant returns centre in Denmark. She said the country’s policies were ‘firm but fair’. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Shabana Mahmood will press on with hardline immigration policies despite calls for a reversal from unions and left-leaning Labour MPs after the Green party’s byelection victory.

Senior Labour sources insisted that the home secretary would continue to roll out changes to asylum policy, dismissing as “plain wrong” claims that it would further alienate Muslim voters.