Labour is in no rush to tack leftwards

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Labour has spent months worrying about the threat of Reform, but its recent by-election loss to the Greens triggered talk of a movement leftwards. It hasn’t come to fruition. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, confirmed yesterday that refugees would be offered only temporary protection in the UK. She also laid out new restrictions on the right of asylum seekers to access government support and launched a trial that will offer failed asylum seekers up to £10,000 to leave the UK. Those who refuse will be forcibly deported. Mahmood said the government needed to be “more Labour”. Discontented backbenchers will raise their eyebrows.