The 1951 Labour government proudly signed the refugee convention. Today’s Labour government is now in danger of consigning it to history. Why and how this is happening challenges those of us who are both socialists and democrats. For our economy, our society and our sanity we must reject the thinking of the Blue Labour faction and set out what Labour truly represents instead.

The performative cruelty of repeatedly demanding that refugees prove they are still refugees – or else face deportation – cannot be understated. It is also a waste of money given that so few refugees, when retested, will change status. At nearly £1bn, this is money that could be better spent on foreign aid programmes to tackle the conflicts that create refugees. The home secretary is also attempting to bypass parliament altogether – using “Henry VIII” powers to push these changes through with minimal scrutiny.

This policy emanates from the current incarnation of Blue Labour. The group blames London liberals for cannibalising British identity, values, cultures and ways of living. It demands that progressives disavow those who stray from these norms as “the other”. It nurtures a nostalgia for a nation that only ever worked for the few.

It is not just refugees who will bear the brunt of this kind of thinking. Blue Labour also parrots the “lump of labour” fallacy that immigrants come here to take jobs rather than help make them, and seeks to deter them accordingly.

For a government fighting on multiple fronts, this approach has been ineffective as well as toxic. Ministers are responding to headlines, not........

© The Guardian