via Associated PressOne senior party insider said they were baffled that Rayner had chosen to criticise Mahmood’s immigration reforms. “The public support for what Shabana is doing is enormous, it’s probably the most popular thing the government is doing,” he said. Advertisement“The party will struggle to get a hearing if it suddenly changes its mind on something with such strong public support. “In each country Rayner cites, the governing party bounced back in the final year of the parliamentary term before going on to win. “At the moment, he’s the least worst option,” a Labour veteran told HuffPost UK.

Source: Huffington Post March 21, 2026 05:06 UTC