Shabana Mahmood appointed Home Secretary amid pressure to tackle migration

Newly appointed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to take on one of the toughest briefs in Government as pressure mounts over record Channel crossings, asylum hotels and migration.

As lord chancellor and justice secretary over the past year, Ms Mahmood has been tasked with tackling the jail overcrowding crisis and has just introduced major legislation to Parliament to overhaul the prison system earlier this week.

The courts backlog has also been a key focus of her brief, but the daughter of immigrants, of Kashmiri origin, has also been drawn into immigration policy that will form much of her new day job.

Ms Mahmood, the most senior Muslim woman in Government, backed Sir Keir Starmer after he said that Britain risked becoming an “island of strangers” in May, although she avoided using the term.

Asked whether she would repeat the Prime Minister’s language, she said: “I agree with the Prime Minister that without curbs on migration, without making sure that we have strong rules that everyone follows, and that we have a pace of immigration that allows for integration into our country, we do risk becoming a nation of people estranged from one another.

“And what he has described is something that I absolutely believe in, and which are the values of the Labour Party, which is a desire to see this country as a nation of neighbours.”

Her appointment comes after discontent over the summer with how the Government has addressed small boat crossings and housed asylum seekers in hotels, which has led to a wave of protests and criticism from Labour’s political opponents.

Earlier this summer, Ms Mahmood also said the European Convention on Human Rights must be reformed to win back public confidence across the continent.

On Tuesday, she further told the Lords Constitution Committee that it is “perfectly fine” for ministers to question the UK’s interpretation of upholding the treaty, adding that European colleagues view the UK as being more on the “maximalist end of the spectrum”.

The former barrister will now be in charge of proposals to tighten the use of Article 8, the right to family and private life, of the ECHR in immigration cases, which are expected to be brought this autumn.

As justice secretary she also proposed a change in the law for foreign criminals to be deported immediately when they receive a custodial sentence, at a time the Home Office has been working to increase the number of returns of migrants with no legal right to be in the UK.

Announcing the plan last month, she said: “If you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing.

“Deportations are up under this Government, and with this new law they will happen earlier than ever before.”

Her appointment has been welcomed by the founder of Blue Labour, Lord Glasman, who told Politico the move was “fantastic”.

“She’s now clearly the leader of our part of the party.”

Earlier this year, in an interview with former Tory cabinet minister Michael Gove, Ms Mahmood said she identified with the socially conservative Blue Labour group.

The Birmingham Ladywood MP told Mr Gove in a Spectator interview: “I look at a community that I represent which is 70% non-white. If you ask my constituents, they want a fair managed migration system.

“They think there should be rules. Most of them will say they came in on the basis of really quite strict rules that they followed to come to this country to work and make a life for themselves.”

Reacting to Ms Mahmood’s appointment, Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said the new Home Secretary still faces significant challenges despite “important progress” made by her predecessor Yvette Cooper.

He said: “It is vital she quickly gets to grips with a long to-do list that includes rapidly ending the use of asylum hotels, speeding up decision making for asylum applications and expanding safe and legal pathways for refugees fleeing conflict to reach the UK safely.”