UK toughens asylum system with radical overhaul / Photo: © AFP
UK toughens asylum system with radical overhaul
The UK government on Monday unveiled dramatic changes to its asylum system, including drastically cutting protections for refugees and their children, seeking to stem a wave of irregular migrants which has fuelled rising anger on the far-right.
Under the new proposals, the government will also threaten visa bans for countries that refuse to take back irregular immigrants.
The plans have been dubbed by the centre-left Labour government as the "most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times".
- Refugee protections -
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told lawmakers the reforms -- modelled on Denmark's strict asylum system -- would discourage migrants from crossing the Channel from France on small boats.
Describing the current system as "out of control and unfair", she said it was an "uncomfortable truth" that the UK’s generous asylum offer, compared to other European countries, was acting as a pull factor.
"The pace and scale of change has destabilised communities. It is making our country a more divided place," she said.
Under the reforms, refugee status will become temporary and reviewed every 30 months. Refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once those are deemed safe.
They will also need to wait for 20 years, instead of the current five, before they can apply for permanent residency.
"We are obliged to offer sanctuary to those who would be in danger if they returned to their country of origin. However, should the regime change in their home country, our approach should change too," the government said in a statement earlier on Monday.
"If someone has fled the rule of one regime, but that regime has since been replaced, it must be possible to return them to that country."
But charities and lawmakers from Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour party slammed the plans, arguing it could result in uprooting refugees who settle in Britain.
The government said children as well as adults could also be removed under the new measures and that it would launch a consultation on the subject.
- Asylum seeker support -
The government said it will end a legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers and refugees who face destitution if they have the means to support themselves or if they break the law.
More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived on small boats this year -- more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022, when the Conservatives were in power.
As of March 2025, over 106,000 asylum seekers received government support.
Mahmood vehemently denied media reports that asylum seekers could have their jewellery confiscated to fund their stays. But she insisted that those people with assets would have to contribute to the costs.
"To maintain the generosity that allows us to provide sanctuary, we must restore order and control" to the system, she said.
The government has also said it will legislate to make it harder for irregular migrants and foreign criminals to use the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to stop deportation.
- Visa bans -
Echoing US President Donald Trump's travel bans, the interior ministry threatened to stop granting visas to nationals from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo unless they accepted the returns of "their criminals and illegal immigrants".
Other countries could be targeted, including a brake on visas for people from countries with high rates of asylum claims, who travel to the UK by legal routes.
Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high, with around 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures.
But the number of initial positive decisions the UK authorities granted fell from 2023 to 2024.
- Reactions -
The tougher stance has been seen as an attempt to claw back surging support from the hard-right Reform UK party.
Reform's firebrand leader Nigel Farage celebrated the announcements, saying Mahmood "sounds like a Reform supporter".
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the centre-right opposition Conservatives, said the proposed measures were "steps in the right direction" but did not go far enough.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, urged the government to reconsider, warning the plans "will not deter" crossings and refugees who work hard should be able to build "secure, settled lives".
(L.Møller--DTZ)
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