Baron Alf Dubs, a Labour peer who arrived in the UK as a child refugee on the Kindertransport, has criticised Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood over the government's planned asylum overhaul, accusing her of “pulling up the drawbridge once inside”. The 93-year-old peer said ministers had “kowtowed” to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK by preventing unaccompanied children from seeking refuge with family members already in the country.
The government has announced the biggest shake-up of asylum laws in four decades, including the suspension of family reunion visas until spring 2026. Ministers have rejected attempts by Dubs and refugee charities to make it easier for child asylum seekers abroad to join relatives in the UK. Mahmood has argued that more safe and legal routes will be opened once border control is restored.
Dubs, a former MP and Northern Ireland minister, said he was not surprised that home secretaries from migrant backgrounds, including Mahmood, Priti Patel, Suella Braverman and James Cleverly, had adopted hardline policies. “Some people believe you pull up the drawbridge once you get inside. Politics is a tough old business,” he told the Guardian. He added that the cause of human rights should be judged on merit, not background.
Asked directly if Mahmood had “pulled up the drawbridge” on child refugees, Dubs replied: “It looks like it.” He accused Labour of using asylum as a “political football” to court right-wing voters, and urged the government to accept in principle that children with family in the UK should be allowed to join them. “I think we can show that we are not just kowtowing to Reform,” he said.
Dubs compared the current rise of extremism to the 1930s, noting that Britain accepted unaccompanied child refugees via the Kindertransport when most other countries refused. He attempted to amend the border security bill in autumn to allow family reunion for unaccompanied children, but the government opposed his efforts. He expressed disappointment, recalling that Keir Starmer had co-signed a letter demanding such a commitment in 2020.
