Shabana Mahmood has announced a sweeping reform of the UK’s asylum system – and said that illegal migration is ‘tearing the country apart’, as ITV News Political Correspondent Shehab Khan reports
Ministers will overhaul human rights laws to make it easier to deport illegal migrants, as part of a major shake-up of the asylum system.
Billed as the largest change to the UK’s system in the modern era, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood plans to rewrite how Britain grants refuge to those fleeing conflict and upheaval with a statement in the House of Commons on Monday.
She will bring forward a Bill to change how article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to family life, is applied in migration court cases.
The home secretary also plans to change the law so that multiple attempts to appeal against refusals for asylum will no longer be allowed.
Judges will be asked to balance that right against the wider public interest under the reforms.
Mahmood insisted that the overhaul was needed because the current system is “out of control” and is causing “huge division” across the country.
On Sunday, the home secretary warned that public consent for the asylum system may disappear if her major reforms are not introduced.
She also said: “I have no doubt about who we really are in this country. We are open, tolerant and generous.
“But I also know there are conditions to that.
“The public rightly expects that we can determine who enters this country, and who must leave.
“To maintain the generosity that allows us to provide sanctuary, we must restore order and control.”
Charities have branded the home secretary’s plans “harsh and unnecessary”, and said they “won’t deter people who have been persecuted, tortured or seen family members killed in brutal wars”.
The Home Office said it had seen a rise in the use of rights-based appeals in recent years as a means of avoiding deportation, including by serious criminals intent on staying in Britain.
Only those with immediate family in the UK, such as a parent or child, will be able to use Article 8 as grounds to stay in future.
Mahmood is also expected to restrict failed asylum seekers to a single route of appeal, preventing them from making multiple attempts to stay in the UK and delaying their removal.
A new independent body – similar to one in operation in Denmark – will be set up to fast-track the removal of dangerous criminals, and last-minute appeals will be expedited.
Similarly, claims by migrants that they are facing modern slavery will be more closely scrutinised as a result of tweaks to the Modern Slavery Act.
Ministers also plan to work alongside other countries to address the application of article 3 of the ECHR – prevention of torture and inhuman treatment – in deportation cases.
The Home Office believes its definition has expanded beyond what should be considered reasonable, citing cases where serious criminals have remained in the UK after claims their healthcare needs could not be met in their homeland.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Britain has always been a fair, tolerant and compassionate country – and this government will always defend those values.
“But in a more volatile world, people need to know our borders are secure and rules are enforced. These reforms will block endless appeals, stop last-minute claims and scale up removals of those with no right to be here.”
What proposals have been announced?
Other reforms already trailed as part of the raft of reforms include that refugee status will be made temporary and subject to regular review under the proposals, so that people are returned to their homeland once it becomes safe.
At the same time, safe and legal routes to the UK will be introduced as a way to cut dangerous journeys in small boats across the English Channel.
Meanwhile, housing and weekly allowances will no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.
Ministers have taken inspiration from the strict asylum approach taken by Denmark, where a government of the same political stripe as Labour has managed to remove incentives drawing people to the country and has increased deportations of illegal migrants.
Some 39,075 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey so far this year, according to the latest Home Office figures.
The arrivals have already passed the number for the whole of 2024 (36,816) and 2023 (29,437), but is below the total for 2022 (45,774).
The Refugee Council, a charity advocating on behalf of refugees, warned that the government’s plans would accrue a cost of £872 million over ten years as a result of the need to review asylum seekers’ status to remain in the UK.
Enver Solomon, the charity’s chief executive, insisted the changes “will not deter people from making dangerous crossings, but they will unfairly prevent men, women and children from integrating into British life”.
He added: “This isn’t who we are as a nation, and it has echoes of how hardworking people who came to our country as migrants were so badly treated by the Windrush scandal.”
Sile Reynolds, head of asylum advocacy at Freedom from Torture, claimed the plans showed “political parties are locked in a race to the bottom – trying to outdo one another in cruelty towards refugees”.
“This is a cynical attempt to scapegoat vulnerable people to win political points. We can and must do better,” she added.
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