Richard Tice joked Shabana Mahmood is “putting an application for vetting to join Reform” over her planned asylum system reforms.

Reform UK’s deputy leader said Ms Mahmood has not got the “support and confidence” of Labour MPs on the proposals, adding that she is “talking the language of concerned Reform voters”.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, he said: “With regards to the Home Secretary, she is beginning to sound as though she is putting an application for vetting to join Reform.

“The reality is, however well intentioned the Home Secretary is, a) she has not got the support and confidence of her own party, but b) while still being a member of the European Convention on Human Rights and still having the Human Right Act in its current form, she just won’t be able to deliver what she is talking about.

“I do think it is slightly ironic – if we had said two months ago in our Party conference what she said over the weekend, we would have been called all sorts of nasty, beastly names.

“I’m sure she is well intentioned, but I don’t think it will amount to a row of beads.”

Asked directly if Reform UK will vote for the proposals if they are tabled, the MP for Boston and Skegness said: “Let’s see what is brought forward. I mean, who knows?

“She might need our support to get it through.”

Mr Tice told GB News the Home Secretary was “adopting the language and ideas” that Reform UK has “essentially given her” with the plans.

Downing Street has however denied the Government is “talking the language of Reform” on the planned asylum system overhaul.

When questioned on the suggestion, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “No, we are talking the language of dealing with an asylum system that is in chaos.”

Ms Mahmood is set to unveil a series of proposals in the House of Commons today, inspired by a strict approach taken by Denmark.

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The plans include banning three African countries from accessing UK visas if they fail to take back illegal migrants.

Ms Mahmood is also set to rewrite how Britain grants refuge to those fleeing conflict and upheaval.

The reforms are billed as the largest change to the UK’s asylum system in the modern era.

She will bring forward a Bill to change how the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is applied in migration court cases.

Only those with immediate relatives, like children or parents, will be able to remain in the UK in future.

The Home Secretary also plans to change the law so multiple attempts to appeal against refusals for asylum will no longer be allowed.

Ms Mahmood has insisted the overhaul is needed because the “pace and scale of change destabilised communities”.

On Sunday, the Home Secretary warned public consent for the asylum system may disappear if her major reforms were not introduced.

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