Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Home Office's unlawful policy of seizing Channel-crossing asylum seekers' phones a ‘failure of governance,’ court rules
A group of people are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel

A “COLLECTIVE failure of governance” allowed the Home Office to operate a secret and unlawful policy that saw hundreds of asylum-seekers’ phones seized and data extracted, the High Court has ruled. 

The department has been ordered to inform all those who were subjected to the unlawful policy after arriving to Britain in small boats that their rights were breached.

The ruling in the High Court last Friday means that hundreds of asylum-seekers affected by the policy can now claim compensation. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaking after Lucy Powell is announced as the new Deputy Leader of the Labour Party at an event in central London. Picture date: Saturday October 25, 2025
Human Rights / 29 November 2025
29 November 2025

DIANE ABBOTT warns that Shabana Mahmood’s draconian asylum proposals fuel racist scapegoating and risk demoralising Labour’s base – potentially paving the way for Farage to No 10