UK’s new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood sets out harder line on migration

Britain’s newly-appointed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Monday set out a harder line on immigration as she warned of visa suspensions for countries that refused to “play ball” and take back illegal migrants.

In one of her major engagements since taking charge at the Home Office last week, the South Asian-origin minister hosted ministerial counterparts from the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada at a meeting of the Intelligence-sharing group named ‘Five Eyes’ in London.

It followed a weekend when over 1,000 migrants arrived illegally on UK shores via small boats, marking among the highest numbers making the dangerous journey across the English Channel.

“For countries that do not play ball, we have been talking about taking much more coordinated action between the Five Eyes countries,” said Mahmood.

“And for us that means the possibility of cutting visas in the future, just to say we do expect countries to play ball, play by the rules and if one of your citizens has no right to be in our country, you have to take them back,” she said.

The minister, who was promoted to her new role from the Ministry of Justice in a Cabinet reshuffle by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last Friday, said she sees her top priority in the new job as securing the country’s borders.

“I’m very clear that there has to be a strong approach to maintaining our border, and that does mean saying to countries who do not take their citizens back that we’re not simply going to allow our laws to remain unenforced. That they do have to play ball, they have to come to the table and if cutting visas is one of the ways to do that, then I will do whatever it takes,” said the minister.

Mahmood was speaking to reporters as she began talks with Kristi Noem, US Homeland Security Secretary, who is on a visit to the UK.

In her role with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, Noem has been overseeing President Donald Trump’s efforts to ramp up deportations.

Australian home affairs minister Tony Burke, New Zealand minister Judith Collins and Canadian public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree completed the group known as Five Eyes at Monday’s summit. Besides a crackdown on illegal migration and people smugglers, online child sexual abuse and the spread of opioids were the items on the agenda for the meeting.

Mahmood, born in Birmingham to parents who hail from Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, is a University of Oxford alumnus and qualified barrister who became a Labour member of Parliament in 2010.

The 44-year-old has since held several shadow cabinet roles before being appointed as one of the senior-most British Muslims in the Labour Party government last year.

“I share the concerns of my constituents regarding the rising tensions between Pakistan and India. Nobody wins in an escalation between the two countries, and dialogue and diplomacy should be a priority,” Mahmood said in a statement in May during Operation Sindoor following the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

“I know many in Birmingham with family in both countries will be desperately worried, which is why restoring regional stability is essential,” said the MP from Birmingham Ladywood constituency.