THE latest Asylum Bill coming to the Commons next week is a reactionary and anachronistic mess.

It has nothing in common with what the left understands by traditional labour movement values, and it should be rejected by the labour movement as a whole.

It is not simply pernicious draft legislation, contrary at least to the spirit of international law, but it will inevitably reinforce the rising hostility to migrants in general.

That hostility is also increasingly directed at all black and Asian people, no matter how long they or their forebears have been here.

Naturally, divide-and-rule immigration policies are completely inimical to the interests of the working class, disrupting unity and fostering division. They also run counter to our own recent history in a very specific way.

In the Makerfield by-election, Andy Burnham trounced Reform UK and exceeded the entire votes of all the right-wing parties combined. It clearly showed that voters want something to the left of the current Labour leadership.

Voters’ hope is the opposite of chasing Reform UK votes with Reform’s own policies. This has been the dominant policy of the Starmer leadership, which has led to disaster and Labour plummeting to 15 per cent in the May elections.

But the Immigration Bill repeats the reactionary policy of aping Reform UK, which has only benefited Nigel Farage. By contrast the Makerfield victory was based on hope of something both different and more recognisably Labour. Not only was it a resounding victory but it has thrown Reform UK into turmoil, after getting hammered in their tenth target seat in the country.

This Immigration Bill is the latest in a long line, the 13th in fewer than four decades, or more than one Immigration Bill every three years. The frequency of legislation in this area has accelerated as the growth in living standards have declined. It is a classic case of distraction, and scapegoating others for the effects of failing government policies.

This approach is wildly inappropriate given our economic and political circumstances. Reform UK represents a minority among voters. The main parties which have opted to echo their policies and slogans have seen their votes shredded. Now that Reform is on the ropes, an Immigration Bill inspired by its politics and supported by its arguments can only offer it a lifeline.

Economically, pulling up the drawbridge on immigration and increasingly deterring migrants will have severe consequences for key public services, especially the NHS and social care. Taking the wider economic view, we face a rapidly ageing population and a declining birth rate.  

This is already having huge effects. While demand for elderly care is rising, declining pupil numbers are forcing some primary schools to reduce capacity or close entirely. That in turn reduces the numbers entering the workforce. This is already a pressure on the NHS and social care and will rapidly worsen. Without migrants, who are overwhelmingly of working age, we would be facing a much deeper and earlier crisis.

Migration is also a direct issue for the labour movement. It should be no surprise to anyone that Boris Johnson consciously changed the immigration system in a reactionary direction.

His version of Brexit replaced EU freedom of movement with a surge in migration from outside the EU.

Of course, socialists and the left in general can have no objection to anyone because they are not Europeans. That would be ridiculous. But the key issue was that freedom of movement was a right, and enshrined other rights as citizens and workers.

By contrast the non-EU surge in migration was overwhelmingly tied to specific jobs and employer sponsorship. But if you have no citizenship rights, in effect there are no rights as workers either.  

This then becomes a two-tier workforce, like the gastarbeiter, or guest workers in Germany. It creates a structural division between workers and acts as a severe curb on both unity and militancy.

There are further serious disadvantages under this system, which are already coming to light. The most well-known is the case of a RMT workers on the London Tube who are threatened with deportations.

The government has raised salary thresholds and removed key transport roles from the list of skilled workers eligible for a visa list. The RMT, supported by the TSSA, has strongly condemned the policy and staged multiple protests outside the Home Office and Downing Street.

But this is only one well-known case. There will be many more that have gone under the radar because the workers involved are not in unionised jobs or who do not have strong unions like the RMT to defend them and publicise their case.

It is easy to see how employers can utilise part of the workforce without rights as a valuable tool against the entire workforce. It is a great shame to this government that it has built on the rotten legacy of Boris Johnson and made it even worse.

This is effectively the spirit of the latest immigration Bill. In some ways, it has a worse motivation. While Johnson wanted to use Brexit to shift the balance of forces in employers’ favour, this Bill aims to be performatively hostile to migrants and asylum-seekers, in a sordid tribute to Reform UK and Farage.

Among the Bill’s measures, oversight by judges in appeals cases has been removed in favour of government appointees. This seems to be explicitly aimed to prevent deportees asserting their right to a family life.

The medieval churches, which first formulated the right to asylum, did not charge those fleeing persecution or their board and lodging, even if they were often expected to work. This Bill reverses that and they could be charged up to £10,000 for their human rights. Hostels will be replaced by prison-like barracks.

Key provisions of the modern slavery legislation will be overridden in pursuit of deportations, which means that thousands will face deportation for the crimes committed against them, including women and girls who are victims of sex-trafficking. The list goes on.

The government seems to believe being malicious towards them will deter asylum-seekers. But it also wants to believe that increasing hostility towards migrants will not deter the people we need economically. It is a farrago of draconian masquerading as coherent policy.

Treating anyone like this is fundamentally at odds with the values of the labour movement. Undermining our shared rights will be a detriment to us all. Further measures to divide workers can only serve our enemies.  

Diane Abbott is MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.