‘Pulling up the drawbridge’: Alf Dubs criticises Shabana Mahmood’s plans for child refugees | Shabana Mahmood

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, whose parents migrated to the UK from Pakistan, is facing the suggestion from a veteran Labour peer that she is “pulling up the drawbridge once inside” when considering the plight of refugee children trapped abroad.

Alf Dubs, who came to the UK aged six in 1939 fleeing the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, said the home secretary and other ministers had “kowtowed” to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK by preventing unaccompanied children from seeking refuge with UK-based family members.

Keir Starmer’s government is facing pressure from Labour MPs after announcing plans for the biggest shake-up of asylum laws in 40 years, including the suspension of family reunion visas.

Ministers have rejected attempts by Dubs and refugee charities to make it easier for children seeking asylum from abroad to apply to join family in the UK.

Mahmood has said that more safe and legal routes will be opened for refugees once order and control has been restored to the UK’s borders.

In an interview with the Guardian, Dubs, who also served as MP for Battersea and as Northern Ireland minister during the Good Friday negotiations, said he was not surprised that home secretaries who were the children of migrants, such as Mahmood, Priti Patel, Suella Braverman and James Cleverly, had become hardline home secretaries.

“Some people believe you pull up the drawbridge once you get inside. Politics is a tough old business. Some may want to demonstrate that they’re not going to just do things because of their background,” he said.

“I argue that the cause of human rights should not depend upon the actual background of the individual putting forward the argument. It should be on the merits of the argument,” he said.

Asked if Mahmood had “pulled up the drawbridge” on child refugees, Dubs replied: “It looks like it”.

Dubs, 93, was transported to the UK through the Kindertransport train, which he subsequently discovered had been organised by the Berlin-based stockbroker Sir Nicholas Winton.

A Labour party member for more than 50 years, Dubs accused Starmer’s government of using asylum like a “political football” while courting voters on the right of the Conservative party and Reform.

“I would like to see the government accept in principle that children who are abroad – asylum-seeking children who have got relatives with settled status here – should be allowed to join them. Not all claimants, but at least some of them.

“I think we can show that we are not just kowtowing to Reform, as we have appeared to be, and we can show that we are moving in a different direction and can persuade the public to come with us.”

Asked if he believed that the current rise of extremism was following a similar pattern to that of the 1930s, Dubs said: “There are certain similarities. In one sense, I had an easier journey than some of the children I have met who have come from Syria and Afghanistan. I did not have to cross continents and use people traffickers.

“In ’38 and ’39, Britain took unaccompanied child refugees on Kindertransport from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. Most other countries said no. Even America said no. But Britain did it in difficult circumstances then and we can do it now,.”

Until the suspension of family reunion visas in September 2025, an adult who was granted refugee status could sponsor their spouse or partner and dependent children under the age of 18 to join them. Children have no family reunion rights.

Between October 2024 and September 2025, the Home Office issued 20,876 refugee family reunion visas. More than half were granted to children, while 37% were issued to adult women, the Refugee Council said.

At the time of the suspension, the Home Office said it would last until “spring 2026”, when it planned to introduce new restrictions, which could include new income thresholds and English-language tests.

Dubs attempted to amend the border security, asylum and immigration bill in the autumn so that unaccompanied children outside the UK could be reunited with close family members granted refugee status. His efforts were successfully opposed by the government.

Dubs said he was “disappointed” by the move. In 2020, Keir Starmer had signed a joint letter with the peer demanding the then Conservative government commit to family reunion for child refugees.

This is not the first time Dubs has taken on a government over the plight of refugee children. In 2016, he championed the landmark “Dubs amendment”, which was supported on all sides of both houses and accepted by the then Conservative government. It led to the admission to the UK of 480 unaccompanied refugee children, mainly fleeing Syria, who had been stranded alone in Europe.

He plans to push for further changes to allow unaccompanied children to enter the UK.

“We must not run scared of Reform. They will always outdo us in hostility. What we have got to do is to say that certain basic human rights principles must apply.

“Do it very gently, argue for compassion. This is a nuanced thing, because we have to bear in mind that there are a lot of people in traditional Labour seats who are looking at Reform sympathetically. But we have got to make a bid for them,” he said.

Mahmood also wants to double the time it takes most migrant workers to qualify for permanent residence, from five years to 10 years. Last week, about 40 Labour MPs raised concerns about the impact of the proposals on migrants already living here, describing the retrospective approach as “un-British” and “moving the goalposts”.

A source close to the home secretary said once order and control had been restored to the UK’s borders she would open safe and legal routes for genuine asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution.

Mahmood is also said to believe that without major changes to separate asylum seekers from “economic migrants”, the government risks losing consent for an asylum system at all, which could lead to widespread divisions and possible disorder.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Under this government’s reforms to create a fairer asylum system, family reunion will no longer be automatic. Those seeking to bring family members to the UK will need to meet stricter criteria going forward.

“Other routes will be available for eligible individuals to apply to reunite with family.”