Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday criticized the UK Labour Party government’s human rights record over the past year, pointing to issues such as its immigration policies, protest crackdowns, and an inadequate response to the cost of living crisis.
In the World Report 2026, an annual report which assesses the status of human rights globally, HRW highlighted the criminalization of peaceful protests through legislation such as the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023, part of which was later ruled unlawful for excessive powers given to police. Significant crackdowns included the designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” group, which led to mass arrests, and “harsh sentencing” of environmental activists.
The report further expressed concern about tighter restrictions on refugees acquiring citizenship and poor asylum housing conditions, linking these policies to an increase in anti-migrant rhetoric.
According to researchers, absolute poverty levels rose from 17 to 18 percent. The increase was accompanied by increased limits on social security, such as the restriction of universal credit to two children and cuts to disability benefits (although the former will be reversed in April).
Experts also described the UK’s foreign policy record as mixed, citing insufficient responses to “Israel’s atrocities in Gaza,” attacks in Sudan, and abuses in Afghanistan. Other issues mentioned included a Supreme Court ruling that “threatened the rights of transgender and intersex people,” a mental health bill that provides insufficient autonomy to the disabled, a lack of reparations for inhabitants of the Chagos Islands, and mishandling of the compensation scheme for those affected by the Windrush scandal.
The Labour government came to power in July 2024 after more than a decade of conservative rule. It has faced numerous challenges, with some polling showing that Labour’s approval ratings have dropped 14 points since coming to power and that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has the lowest approval ratings of “any prime minister in the past 50 years.”
Reform UK, a right-wing party that has grown significantly in popularity over the same period, has a slate of policies targeting illegal immigration and has expressed opposition to the housing of asylum seekers. Labour has been accused of adopting increasingly anti-migrant policies in an effort to appeal to potential Reform voters.
HRW’s UK director, Yasmine Ahmed, expressed alarm about the current state of government, saying:
I think a lot of people are shocked by the authoritarian direction this government has taken. Not only is it cut-and-pasting some of the worst and most regressive policies of the previous administration, but in areas like protest rights it is going even further. Do Labour MPs want their legacy to be of a party that made Britain a less democratic, less free country?
According to HRW, many of the government’s actions and policies constitute violations under domestic and international human rights law. For example, the UK is obligated to protect freedom of assembly under Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The group called on the government to abide by its obligations and to “repeal or amend legislation” that endangers people’s rights.
