Shabana Mahmood

Current Home Secretary - Leading government appeal against High Court ruling

Britain's High Court ruled on February 13, 2026 that the government acted illegally when it banned Palestine Action as a terrorist organization last summer—the first time a UK court has overturned a terrorism proscription through judicial review. The three-judge panel found that while the group's tactics of breaking into factories and damaging military aircraft were criminal, they did not meet the threshold for terrorism under law. The ruling calls into question arrests of more than 2,700 people and charges against 250 under the Terrorism Act.

Updated Feb 13

UK Home Secretary - Leading enforcement push

For years, the United Kingdom lacked effective tools to compel foreign governments to accept deported citizens. Paperwork stalled. Travel documents went unsigned. Countries simply refused to cooperate, and deportees remained in Britain. On February 5, 2026, that dynamic shifted: Angola, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo agreed to accept deportations after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood threatened—and in the DRC's case, imposed—visa penalties on their citizens.

Updated Feb 6