A VETERAN Labour peer and refugee from the Nazis has urged Andy Burnham to remove Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary as her “performative cruelty” is dividing the party.

Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis as a child, said the PM-in-waiting should draw a line under errors Sir Keir Starmer’s government made regarding asylum and refugees.

A Burnham-led government could champion “human rights, compassion, fairness and equality,” said the peer dubbed “the conscience of the Labour movement.”

Labour should seek to control the country’s borders, but do so “without cruelty,” he said.

“This control should also come with our commitment to basic rights, and compassion for those who are in time of greatest need.

“Not performative cruelty — like briefing the Home Office would start seizing refugees’ jewellery at the border. Or using incendiary language to blame refugees for ‘tearing our country apart.’

“We must redouble our efforts to establish Europe-wide co-operation on asylum-seekers and refugees. It is only by working with our partners that we can achieve an effective human-rights based policy.”

New Makerfield MP Mr Burnham is the frontrunner to replace PM Sir Keir Starmer as early as July 17.

Asked if Ms Mahmood should remain in post, Lord Dubs told the Guardian: “I think her talents would be better used elsewhere in cabinet to allow the new PM free rein to put his own stamp on asylum and immigration policy.

“At a time when the party needs unity, I do not believe that Shabana Mahmood’s policies represent the right approach.”

Ms Mahmood’s controversial plans to double the qualifying period for overseas workers to claim indefinite leave to remain have been opposed by unions, care sector representatives and anti-racism campaigners.

“The proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain, for instance, which would apply retrospectively to people who came here in good faith and according to the rules, are simply unjust and should be reconsidered,” Lord Dubs said.

The peer, who came to Britain aged six in 1939 fleeing the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, added: “We must stand firmly by our commitments under the 1951 refugee convention and the ECHR and not attempt to water them down which is what the current proposals threaten to do.”

A former Northern Ireland minister who helped draw up the Good Friday agreement, the peer also criticised Ms Mahmood’s decision to suspend family reunion visas. 

She is expected to unveil an asylum and immigration Bill on Tuesday that will make it easier to place children in handcuffs prior to deportation, or to remove sick children.

Sir Keir was taking advice yesterday on whether Mike Tapp broke the ministerial code for collective responsibility after Ms Mahmood called for the migration minister to be sacked.

She denied Mr Tapp access to sensitive documents without her approval after he wrote a Times article suggesting foreign care workers should be exempt from her plans to tighten settlement rules.

Stand Up to Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu told the Morning Star: “Calls for Mike Tapp’s resignation are yet another illustration of the crisis facing the Starmer government and why he was forced to resign.

“Tapp was right to call for overseas care workers to be exempt from the government’s changes to immigration policy. But the proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain must also be scrapped.

“What is needed is a root-and-branch change in immigration and asylum policy. We call on the next prime minister to stop pandering to the far right.

“We need safe routes for refugees, the right to work for people seeking asylum, and equal employment rights and protections for migrant workers, so they are treated the same as all other workers.”

A Momentum spokesperson added: “The Labour government’s scapegoating of migrants is divisive and dangerous. 

“The Home Office must roll back its reckless deportation plans and promote Britain as a beacon of diversity.”

Earlier this week, Unison head of social care Gavin Edwards stressed overseas workers’s “enormous contribution to social care.”

“Services would have collapsed without the skill, dedication and compassion they bring,” he said.

“Unison has long argued for a fair, sector-wide sponsorship system. That would help drive out bad employers, allow workers to move more easily between jobs and ensure the sector can recruit and retain staff.

“The government should not increase the wait for indefinite leave to remain or change the rules for those already in the UK.”