Britain could enter talks with Taliban over returns deal, Home Secretary suggests
Britain could enter talks with the Taliban to coordinate a returns deal for failed asylum seekers, the Home Secretary has suggested.
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Shabana Mahmood said “discussions are happening in government” about how best to work with the Afghan regime, which Britain doesn’t yet recognise.
The Home Secretary said she was looking closely at conversations that were happening elsewhere - as it was confirmed that Sweden and the EU Commission will hold talks with the Taliban government.
According to government data, those from Afghanistan are one of the largest nationalities making the dangerous Channel crossing to come to the UK - making up more than 10 per cent of all arrivals.
Ms Mahmood suggested this week that discussions are happening in the UK government on next steps.
She said: “We're monitoring very closely what is happening in terms of other countries, other partners of our own, whether that's European partners or others, and conversations they are having with other countries, including Afghanistan.
"We'll continue to monitor that work.
“I'm not going to get into any additional discussions that are happening in government.
"We'll have more to say about that in the future.
"But of course we monitor closely and we work with our partners as well in terms of the efforts that we all need to make collectively to try and get agreements around the world."
Almost 42,000 people arrived by small boat last year.
Last month the Home Secretary suspended student visas from Afghanistan and a string of other nations in a bid to try to clamp down on visa-fraud.
Government data has revealed that 39 per cent of the 100,000 asylum seekers in 2025 claimed their status after arriving in the UK legally - such as on a student visa.
That number is triple what it was five years ago.
LBC went to France with the Home Secretary this week to see her sign a new £660million, three-year deal with the French which she says will help step up work to stop people from making the crossing.
As part of that deal, British taxpayer funding will go towards a detention centre in France, with emphasis on arrivals from 10 countries - including Afghanistan.
France stopped more than 20,000 crossings last year, but in future a portion of the government cash could be withdrawn if they don’t meet certain targets.
Ms Mahmood told LBC that the new deal was good value for money, and she recognised the costs.
But she declined to put a target on how much the French should reduce the crossings by in order to see the success of her plans.