New home secretary Shabana Mahmood expected to to say asylum seekers will be moved from hotels to barracks
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. The new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is expected to move Labour further to the right on migration to stop the advance of Reform, which has been enjoying a double digit poll lead having exploited a political vacuum left by the government over the summer.
Nigel Farage, Reform UK’s leader, has said there is every chance of a general election in 2027 and declared he will run on a pledge to “stop the boats” within two weeks of entering No 10.
The Sunday Times is reporting that Mahmood, conscious of Farage’s popularity with voters, is likely to want to reform the European convention on human rights (ECHR), with a source telling the paper that the former justice secretary would “start with the unthinkable and work backwards”.
Despite warnings that ECHR withdrawal would threaten the Good Friday agreement, Farage has insisted he would leave the convention and replace it with a British Bill of Rights applying only to British citizens and those who have a legal right to live in the UK. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, has also said she would look into leaving the ECHR.
