Cather Atkinson hinted that the Home Office may threaten to stop issuing visas to Pakistan unless it agrees to accept Shabir AhmedLIVE Updated 7m agoMon 13 Jul 2026 11.11 CESTFirst published on Mon 13 Jul 2026 10.47 CESTKey events30m agoMinister suggests Home Office will use visa threats to deport Rochdale grooming gang leader to PakistanBritish home secretary Shabana Mahmood attends a meeting of criminal justice agencies Photograph: Dan Kitwood/ReutersBritish home secretary Shabana Mahmood attends a meeting of criminal justice agencies Photograph: Dan Kitwood/ReutersFrom 30m agoMinister suggests Home Office will use visa threats to deport Rochdale grooming gang leader to PakistanGood morning. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will be in the Commons for much of the afternoon and she is involved in several of the main news stories in the mix today. MPs are debating the second reading of the immigration and asylum bill, meaning that those Labour MPs opposed to her plans may speak out at some point. (Her most controversial proposal is about extending the amount of time migrant workers have to wait until they can apply for indefinite leave to remain [ILR], and that is not actually part of the bill, but it would be surprising if ILR does not come up.) We are also expecting a Home Office statement about security, in the light of the murder of Ann Widdecombe. As Aletha Adu reports, the police, who have arrested a man on suspicion of murder, have said at this point there is no evidence to suggest the killing was politically motivated. But that has not stopped Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, doing exactly that.And Mahmood is also due to give MPs details of how she plans to amend the law so that the Rochdale grooming gang leader, Shabir Ahmed, can be deported.Ahmed is a former British-Pakistani joint national who has now had his British nationality revoked and who has recently been released from jail after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence for 30 child rape offences. Victims were told that, because his British nationality had been revoked, he would be deported on his release. But in fact that is not possible because under the Immigration Act 1971 there is an exemption for people who, like Ahmed, came to the UK before 1973.When the government first indicated that it would change the law to get rid of this exemption, the Tories said that, on its own, this would be pointless because Pakistan has said that it will not take Ahmed back anyway. They said the government should stop issuing visas to Pakistan unless it agreed to his deportation.Today it sounds as if Mahmood will adopt this approach. Catherine Atkinson, the victims minister at the Ministry of Justice, was giving interviews this morning and on the Today programme, when it was put to her that Pakistan was refusing to take Ahmed, she replied: