The home secretary is gearing up to set out a major shakeup of the asylum system in the coming weeks, which is expected to be modelled on Denmark.
The country has one of the toughest immigration systems in Europe, and senior officials are hoping that taking lessons from the Scandinavian nation could help bring down the growing numbers of people arriving in the UK via small boat.
A delegation of senior officials was sent to Copenhagen last month to learn about their interventions and draw lessons that could be applied to the UK.
Why is the government looking to Denmark?
The plan to copy Denmark comes as the government ramps up its efforts to bring down migration in the UK, amid growing public anger over the issue.
It has been a difficult few months for the government, with Britain seeing rising numbers of small boat crossings in the Channel and a migrant, who was deported under the UK’s returns deal with France, re-entering the country.
At Labour’s party conference in September, Shabana Mahmood pledged to “do whatever it takes” to regain control of Britain’s borders – but the government is yet to get a grip on the number of people making the dangerous crossing, with the total who have arrived in the UK by small boat this year reaching 37,575 on 6 November.
The decision to look at the Danish system comes as part of an attempt to slash the “pull factors” that draw people to the UK, as well as making it easier to remove those with no right to stay.
Last year, the Danish government said it had approved a “historically” low number of asylum applications – something that is said to have impressed the home secretary.
Their approach to migration and integration policy has reduced the number of asylum applications to the lowest number in 40 years in 2024, while they have also successfully removed 95 per cent of rejected asylum seekers..
What policies could they implement?
While the Home Office is yet to comment on specific policies, officials are thought to be looking at Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunion, as well as considering restricting most asylum seekers to a temporary stay in the country.
While refugees who have been targeted by a foreign regime are likely to be provided protection in Denmark, most people who have been granted asylum are only allowed to stay in the country temporarily.
When a country is deemed safe, the Danish government has the power to withdraw or refuse renewal of protection, even where the individual has been resident for several years.
Denmark also imposes conditions, such as being in full-time employment, that are applied to people seeking settlement rights.
Home Office officials are also said to be looking at the country’s tighter rules for family reunions, which include a minimum age of 24 for refugees applying for their partners to join them, which the country says is to protect against forced marriages.
A person who has been granted residency in Denmark must not have claimed benefits for three years and they must put up a financial guarantee, while both partners must also pass a Danish language test.
Denmark also takes a tough approach to integration, with a law that allows the state to demolish apartment blocks in areas where at least half of the residents have a “non-Western” background – a law that was found to be discriminatory on the basis of ethnic origin by a senior adviser to the EU’s top court.
Refugees who live in these housing estates would not be eligible for family reunion.
While the UK government is not expected to go so far as this in its imitation of Denmark’s immigration system, the government is likely to take some lessons from this aspect of the system as part of an attempt to boost integration in Britain.
How have Labour MPs responded?
Labour MPs are split on the move, with some in so-called red wall seats – seen as vulnerable to challenge from Reform UK – wanting ministers to go further in the Danish direction, while others believe the policies will estrange progressive voters and push the party too far to the right.
Left-wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome, who is a member of the party’s Socialist Campaign Group caucus, urged against emulating the Danish model, suggesting it was “far-right”.
“I think this is a dead end – morally, politically and electorally… I think these are policies of the far-right. I don’t think anyone wants to see a Labour government flirting with them,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Meanwhile, Clive Lewis accused the government of “adopting the logic of its opponents” in its attempt to crack down on migration.
“When a progressive party adopts the logic of its opponents – that migrants are a threat, that order must come before rights, that the state’s job is to manage people rather than empower them – it doesn’t neutralise the authoritarian right. It normalises it”, he said.
“The outcome isn’t a strong or fair society – it’s an increasingly authoritarian one – with government strong enough to punish, but too weak to care.
“Secure the borders, open safe-routes, democratise immigration, operate an efficient asylum system and invest in well-funded, universal, public services/housing.”
But Stoke-on-Trent Central Labour MP Gareth Snell said that any change bringing “fairness” to an asylum system that his constituents “don’t trust” is “worth exploring”.
He said it was “worth looking at what best practice we can find from our sister parties around the world where they have managed to find practical solutions” to managing immigration.
