Shabana Mahmood faces pressure over UK migration and border policies

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is facing intense political pressure regarding migration management in the United Kingdom. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused Mahmood of having ‘no control of the border’ following a week where over 1,000 people reportedly entered the country illegally via small boats, including two undetected arrivals.

Philp criticized the inaction of French authorities and suggested the UK should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights to facilitate faster deportations.

Simultaneously, Mahmood is facing internal opposition from within the Labour Party and major backers. Andrea Egan, general secretary of the Unison union, accused the Home Secretary of ‘dehumanising’ migrants by proposing to double the qualifying time for indefinite leave to remain from five to ten years. This reform would specifically impact workers in ‘low-skilled’ sectors, such as care workers, who could face a 15-year wait for settlement.

Communities Secretary Angela Rayner has also broken Cabinet ranks, arguing that applying these new rules to workers already in the UK would ‘change the goalposts.’ The reforms are viewed by some as an attempt by the Labour government to adopt a harder line on migration to counter political pressure from Reform UK.