Britain has lost control of its borders, home secretary admits

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood on Wednesday admitted that Britain and other countries had lost control of their borders, ahead of a meeting with Balkan countries intended to tackle a flow of illegal migrants into Europe.

Mahmood also warned that unless western politicians got a grip on their borders, public trust in the state would be weakened.

“The citizens of each of our countries have a very simple expectation of us,” Mahmood said. “The public rightly expect that their government will be able to determine who enters their country, and who must leave.”

She added: “The failure to bring order to our borders is eroding trust not just in us as political leaders but in the credibility of the state itself.”

The comments come as the Labour government contends with the political threat from Nigel Farage’s rightwing populist party Reform, which has surged into a strong opinion poll lead in recent months.

The government has sought to toughen its stance on immigration, which has soared up the political agenda following a surge in small boat migration.

Mahmood’s comments came ahead of a meeting on Tuesday between European countries focused on measures and agreements to tackle irregular migration in the western Balkans.

The meeting, held at Lancaster House in London, included representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

Other European countries that attended included Austria, France, Germany and Italy, alongside Poland and representatives from the EU.

The Home Office said before the summit that the western Balkans was a major transit route for the smuggling of people and drugs, with almost 22,000 people smuggled through the region in 2024.

The department declined to comment further on the summit on Tuesday evening.

Mahmood had said beforehand that the UK’s National Crime Agency would work with European partners to break the model of organised crime groups. However, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s promise to “smash the gangs” has so far failed to stop illicit crossings of the English Channel by people in small boats.