The UK could suspend visas from countries that do not “play ball” and agree to returns deals for migrants, the new home secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood made the comments as she hosted Donald Trump’s head of homeland security at a meeting of intelligence-sharing allies in London on Monday.
The talks come as the government continues to face pressure to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.
Saturday, which was Mahmood’s first full day in the job, saw 1,097 people arriving, one of the highest number of people on record.
That brought the total number of people arriving in the UK by small boat to more than 30,000 this year, according to Home Office statistics, a number that Mahmood described as “utterly unacceptable”.
The number of people arriving in the UK by small boats this year is up by 37% on last year, according to analysis by the PA news agency.
Mahmood held talk with US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who oversees the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and has been a key player in the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up deportations.
The summit was also expected to focus on online child sexual abuse and the spread of opioids.
Mahmood said she hoped to agree new measures to “protect our borders with our five eyes partners, hitting people smugglers hard” at Monday’s security talks.
She said: “As the security threats we all face become more complex and span continents, we are stronger and safer together.”
The meeting comes days after Mahmood was appointed as home secretary in the prime minister’s major cabinet reshuffle, replacing Yvette Cooper.
The Five Eyes alliance is a post-World War II intelligence-sharing pact between the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on communications intelligence.
On Sunday night, Noem posted a photo on social media of her meeting with the US Ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens.
She said the pair discussed border and aviation security, immigration enforcement, and how her department can support “meaningful results” for both the UK and US.
Defence Secretary John Healey has confirmed the government is looking at expanding the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, as it looks to move people out of so-called asylum hotels.
He said on Sunday that officials were also considering other types of “non-military accommodation”.
Comment ×