Stephen Glover, writing in the Daily Mail, said the newly appointed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will be constrained in efforts to stop Channel crossings and other forms of illegal migration unless the government abandons or radically reforms international human rights obligations and produces a stronger deterrent.
Glover's column welcomed aspects of Mahmood's appointment, noting reports that she is prepared to pursue changes to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act and plans to use Ministry of Defence land to build basic accommodation for single adult male asylum seekers. He also noted that Labour moved Yvette Cooper and two middle‑ranking Home Office ministers out of the department as Mahmood took the post.
In the column, Glover argued that such measures would be inadequate without two specific developments: withdrawal from the ECHR and the establishment of a credible deterrent to prevent people making the Channel crossing. He wrote that previous legal and judicial obstacles had already frustrated attempts to use schemes such as the Rwanda deportation plan, and he questioned whether a government led by Keir Starmer would countenance leaving the ECHR.
Glover contrasted Mahmood's reported intentions with policy proposals from Reform UK and its leader Nigel Farage, who has embraced removal from international human rights obligations and a programme of returning illegal migrants to their countries of origin. The commentator said Reform’s outline, while uncompromising, appeared more likely to produce immediate reductions in crossings than the options available to Labour.
The column cited recent crossing figures to underscore the scale of the challenge. Glover said more than 50,000 migrants crossed the Channel during Cooper’s 14‑month tenure as home secretary and reported that more than 1,000 crossed on a single Saturday. He argued those numbers made public frustration with illegal migration a potentially decisive issue at the next general election.
Glover also criticised previous Labour approaches as lacking deterrent effect. He described past proposals, including deals with France that would swap limited numbers of migrants, as unlikely to dissuade people camped near Calais or elsewhere from attempting crossings. He wrote that housing asylum seekers in hotels or in houses dotted around the country — measures the government has used to relieve immediate accommodation pressures — amounted to temporary fixes rather than long‑term solutions.
On operational steps, Glover said Mahmood’s reported plan to build basic detention centres on Ministry of Defence land could be cheaper than hotels and might answer local concerns about single‑sex accommodation, but that such centres would also provoke public opposition if placed near communities. He wrote that, without a policy judged a credible deterrent by potential migrants, any new home secretary would be ‘‘fiddling at the edges.’’
The piece mixed policy critique with character observations, noting Mahmood’s working‑class upbringing in a family shop and her past roles, including a spell as justice secretary that the columnist said had involved early release of prisoners. Those points were presented as part of Glover’s assessment of Mahmood’s suitability to lead a ministry facing a high‑profile immigration challenge.
The column is an opinion piece and reflects the author’s assessment of the political and legal constraints facing the new home secretary. It did not include responses from Mahmood, the Labour leadership or the Home Office; government spokespeople have in the past emphasised both adherence to international obligations and the need for practical measures to manage migration and asylum claims.