“If we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred,” declared home secretary Shabana Mahmood, after her overhaul of asylum policy in the UK was unveiled.
Following days of speculation, the sweeping reform of the system was presented to MPs on Monday, with the measures set to make the country’s asylum rules among the toughest in Europe.
Ms Mahmood told the Commons it was the “uncomfortable truth” that the UK’s generous asylum offer was drawing people to its shores, and for British taxpayers the system “feels out of control and unfair”.
But Ms Mahmood faces a significant backlash from Labour MPs on the plans – although enough Tory MPs offering to back the Bill would squash a backbench rebellion in a vote.
What has Shabana Mahmood announced?
On a busy day in the Commons on Monday, Ms Mahmood set out her reforms for the asylum system, designed to make it easier to remove people with no right to be in the country, and to make the UK a less attractive destination for asylum seekers.
The overhaul was said to be inspired by Denmark’s approach to asylum seekers, where the government transformed its own system following an influx of people throughout the 2010s. The Scandinavian country has one of the toughest asylum and immigration systems in Europe.
Arguably, the biggest change was making the refugee status temporary and subject to regular review every 30 months.
Under current UK law, people granted status have the status for five years and can then apply for indefinite leave to remain and get on a route to citizenship.
Ms Mahmood said, under her reforms, refugees will be removed as soon as their home countries are deemed safe. Meanwhile, the wait to apply for permanent settlement will be quadrupled to 20 years.
This is similar to Denmark, where asylum seekers get a temporary residency permit for one or two years, which is subject to regular review, and can be revoked once their home country is deemed safe.
The home secretary also said there would be no automatic right to family reunion for refugees wanting to bring relatives to the UK.
Families with children could also be subject to enforced returns under measures to remove failed asylum seekers, and the government is launching a consultation on how that should be done.
Also, the government’s legal duty to provide asylum seeker support would be revoked, meaning housing and weekly allowances would no longer be guaranteed. And those who have the right to work and can support themselves could also be denied benefits.
Those arriving and claiming to be children will face more stringent checks on their age, with methods such as facial age assessment technology implemented.
Failed asylum seekers will be limited to making one appeal against their removal, instead of having the ability to make multiple challenges on different grounds.
Meanwhile, new and legal routes to the UK would be introduced as a way to cut dangerous journeys in small boats across the English Channel – but the number of arrivals would be capped based on capacity and the ability of communities to welcome refugees.
Will families and children be deported?
Asylum seekers with children will no longer be able to “put down roots in order to thwart removal”, said the Home Office document on the asylum system overhaul, which claimed that some were able to “exploit the fact that they have children”.
The policy could see families with children subject to enforced returns, with the government launching a consultation on how that should be done.
The document pointed to current legislation that, it said, allowed families with children who are refused asylum to continue to receive support until the youngest child turns 18, despite the family not cooperating with the returns process.
“This creates a perverse incentive to remain in the UK without status, undermining the integrity of the system,” the document said.
Which countries face a Trump-style travel ban?
In a show of determination to make her plan work, Ms Mahmood would also ban countries from accessing UK visas if they fail to take back illegal migrants, in a system similar to that used by Donald Trump’s administration.
Before the plan was released, it was reported that Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo would face visa sanctions, blocking their tourists, VIPs and business people from travelling to Britain if they do not cooperate more on the removal of illegal migrants.
“We expect all countries to take back their citizens who have no right to be in the UK,” said the Home Office document on the asylum system overhaul.
“We will act against countries who fail to cooperate with the return of their citizens, including through imposing visa penalties, as provided for in section 72 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. This could include suspending the granting of entry clearance for nationals of a country until it takes back its citizens who are in the UK illegally.”
Resuming removals to Syria and other countries
Under the plan to make refugee status temporary, the UK would offer sanctuary to those who would be in danger if they returned to their country of origin, the Home Office document on the asylum system overhaul said.
However, once there was a regime change, there must be a change of approach and it must be possible for the person to return to the country, it said.
People have been returning to Syria on a voluntary basis following the toppling of the Assad regime, it said, before continuing: “We are now exploring resuming enforced returns to countries where we have not routinely carried out such removals in recent years, including to Syria.”
Overseas ‘return hubs’ plan being explored
Earlier this year, Home Office officials took part in discussions on creating overseas “return hubs” to house asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected, after all appeals have been exhausted.
In Monday’s publication, there is one paragraph on the idea signalling the Labour government’s plan to explore it, with negotiations said to be taking place with a number of countries.
It read: “We will continue to explore the use of ‘return hubs’ which are safe third countries that failed asylum seekers can be sent to instead of their country of origin.”
It is understood that the idea would involve payments made to host countries for each person removed from the UK.
What have politicians said about the proposals?
Ms Mahmood’s proposed changes were met with strong public criticism from many Labour MPs and lords amid a backlash from within the party.
Former Labour frontbencher Richard Burgon said the policy “scrapes the bottom of the barrel” and was “a desperate attempt to triangulate with Reform”.
Ian Lavery said that when the Tories and Reform are backing the policies, “is it not time to question whether we’re actually in the right place?”
Stella Creasy said the plans would leave refugees in “a permanent sense of limbo”, and Nadia Whittome called it “shameful that a Labour government is ripping up the rights and protections of people who have endured unimaginable trauma”.
On Tuesday morning, Lord Dubs, a Labour Peer, who arrived in the UK as one of 600 Jewish children rescued from the Nazis, accused Ms Mahmood of “using children as a weapon”.
He said: “When there are children who are on their own and who’ve got family in this country, then I think the right thing to do is to have family reunion and bring the children over here.”
There has been support from MPs from other political parties on the plans, however.
Tory party leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Some of the measures she is announcing today are undoubtedly positive steps – baby steps, but positive nonetheless.”
Reform MP Danny Kruger, who defected from the Tory party earlier this year, said: “I recognise the rhetoric of the home secretary today – we have our plan for restoring justice, she’s announced a plan to restore order and control.”
What have migrant charities said about the proposals?
Following days of media reports, charities have had time to consider their response to Monday’s announced proposals.
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: “Constantly demonising and scapegoating refugees in a hopeless and cruel attempt to deter people seeking asylum in the UK is causing social division while wrecking the asylum system – all to no good whatsoever.
“Sadly, this home secretary seems as determined to continue in precisely the same vein as the previous government – possibly now subjecting people granted asylum to decades of insecurity that will undermine their prospects of recovery and integration.”
Fizza Qureshi, chief executive of Migrants’ Rights Network, said: “The home secretary is taking unprecedented and appalling steps to blame people for daring to come to the UK to seek sanctuary. Instead of upholding their rights to claim refugee protection she is making them out to be a ‘problem’ that needs to be solved through harsher anti-refugee measures.”
Lara Parizotto, chief executive of Migrant Democracy Project, said: “Ms Mahmood’s is cementing a dangerous narrative of ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ refugees, is bending over backwards to change immigration rules to actually make claiming asylum illegal, which is not at the moment, and is washing her hands of responsibility by stating that it’s local residents’ responsibility to host refugees.”
