Overview

• Five Eyes ministers in London endorsed shared principles to speed removals, including the option of visa limits for states that refuse or delay returns.
• Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, pledging to do “whatever it takes,” signalled an escalator from quotas to suspensions and hosted US homeland security chief Kristi Noem for coordination talks.
• Government sources identified India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Iraq, Somalia and Gabon as the least cooperative on accepting deported nationals.
• Channel crossings have reached a record 30,165 this year, up 37% on 2024, which ministers cite as the rationale for a harder line on deportations.
• Experts caution the approach could strain relations with key partners and faces legal and practical obstacles, even though visa powers exist under the 2022 Nationality and Borders Act; ministers are also reviewing ECHR guidance and considering relocating asylum seekers from hotels to barracks.