Britain’s home secretary Shabana Mahmood has admitted that the UK and other countries have lost control of their borders, ahead of a meeting with Balkan countries intended to tackle a flow of illegal migrants into Europe.
Ms 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,” Ms Mahmood said. “The public rightly expect that their government will be able to determine who enters their country, and who must leave.”
She added that “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”.
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The comments come as the Labour government contends with the political threat from Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist party Reform UK, 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.
Ms Mahmood’s comments come ahead of a meeting between European countries focused on measures and agreements to tackle irregular migration in the western Balkans.
The meeting, taking place at Lancaster House in London, will include representatives of the western Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.
Other European countries attending will include Austria, France, Germany and Italy, alongside Poland and representatives from the EU.
The British home office said that the western Balkans were a major transit route for the smuggling of people and drugs, with almost 22,000 people smuggled through the region in 2024.
Ms Mahmood said the UK National Crime Agency would work with European partners to break the model of organised crime groups, although prime minister 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.
According to the home office, the western Balkans region is becoming a major transit route for people smugglers, as well as those trafficking drugs across borders. About 22,000 people were smuggled by gangs along routes through the western Balkans in 2024, the department said.
The summit is expected to include discussion on how to crack down on the gangs, including through new co-operation between Britain, Europe and border police forces in the region.
The Conservatives said Ms Mahmood’s warning was “rich, coming from a government that has lost control of our borders”. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, added: “The first nine months of this year have been the worst in history for illegal immigrants crossing the Channel.
“The Conservatives would leave the ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights], which will enable us to remove all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival. Then the crossings would soon stop.”
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
