The failure to bring order to European borders is eroding trust in politicians and the concept of nation states, Shabana Mahmood will warn.
As she hosts a meeting of fellow interior ministers to discuss migration routes through the western Balkans on Tuesday, the home secretary will say that international cooperation is the way to curb irregular migration.
Mahmood will make the warning as she hosts her counterparts from across the western Balkans and other European allies, in London. The summit is aimed at ensuring European nations strike new deals to tackle illegal migration.
At the gathering, Mahmood will say: “The public rightly expect that their government will be able to determine who enters their country, and who must leave. Today, in this country, and I know in many if not all of yours, that is not the case.
“And 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.”
She is also expected to criticise Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, accusing his party of wanting to “turn inwards” and seek solutions to migration without the aid of other countries.
“Illegal migration is a shared threat which requires a strong, joined-up international response,” she will say. “To those who think the answer to the challenges that we face is to turn inwards, or back away from international cooperation, I say that in coming together as we are today we will make all of our borders and our countries stronger.”
The western Balkans, which includes North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, has become increasingly important to tackling illegal migration across Europe.
According to the Home Office, the 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 cooperation between Britain, Europe and border police forces in the region.
Graeme Biggar, the director general of the National Crime Agency, will join the gathering to discuss work on disrupting the supply chains of the gangs, and a session on combating violence against women and girls is also due to be held.
The Conservatives said 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.”
