Home Secretary sets out reforms to overhaul ‘unfair’ asylum system
Mahmood unveils proposals to make it easier to remove people with no right to be in the UK
Shabana Mahmood has said the current asylum system is “out of control and unfair” as she announced reforms aimed at deterring illegal migration to the UK.
The Home Secretary set out tougher plans to overhaul asylum policy to MPs, including to make it easier to remove people with no right to be in the country.
The plans had already faced criticism from Labour MPs, ahead of the statement.
Ms Mahmood told MPs it was the “uncomfortable truth” that the UK’s generous asylum offer, compared to other European countries, is drawing people to UK shores, and for British taxpayers the system “feels out of control and unfair”.
“The pace and scale of change has destabilised communities. It is making our country a more divided place,” Ms Mahmood said.
“There will never be a justification for the violence and racism of a minority, but if we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred.
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“I have no doubt about who we really are in this country. We are open, tolerant and generous.
“But the public rightly expect 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.”
Among the plans, refugee status will become temporary with regular reviews every 30 months, and the government will no longer have a legal duty to provide asylum seeker support, which means housing and weekly allowances for asylum seekers will not be guaranteed.
But reacting earlier to the government’s plans, Kent Labour MP and former immigration lawyer Tony Vaughan said ministers’ rhetoric “encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities”.
Mr Vaughan warned plans to review refugees’ status every few years would divert “huge amounts of resource away from making our asylum system work”.
‘Wrong turning’
And referencing Sir Keir’s speech at the Labour Party conference, he said: “The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road.
“These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning.”
Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, asked: “Is there a danger that those people that we do actually need to come to this country legally, with the skills that we need to fill the employment gap, to keep our NHS working and to work in the social care sector, will actually look at this country now and say: ‘No, I don't want to go there’?”
Ms Mahmood replied: "I disagree with the Honorable Lady. There is no reason to believe that.”
Labour MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Chris Murray said: "Over the last few years, three times as many people fleeing war or persecution have come to this country from Ukraine and Hong Kong as have come in small boats.
"But there has been no public outcry. The lesson here is the British people are compassionate and generous to refugees when the system is controlled, fair and gripped by the government.
“In 15 years working on asylum issues before being elected, I saw the dysfunction this government has inherited. There is nothing progressive about ducking asylum reform and allowing public support for refugees to drain away."
SNP MP for Perth and Kinross-shire Pete Wishart said: "In their manifesto Labour promised to defend migrants' rights and build an immigration system based on compassion and integrity.
"Instead what we have is a policy that's welcomed by Reform UK and has even found favour with Tommy Robinson.
"From throwing refugees into destitution to denying any meaningful route to citizenship to forcible evictions, where exactly is the compassion and dignity in that?"
Ms Mahmood replied: "I can assure him given that Tommy Robinson doesn't even think I am actually English, he will certainly not be supporting anything I've got to say. So let's just leave that there.”
The mobilisation of resistance on Labour’s back benches came before the policies were formally announced, after extensive efforts to sell them to voters who have shifted away from Labour as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has secured months of opinion poll leads.
But a source close to the Home Secretary said the “entire government” is behind the reforms and there has been a “huge amount” of engagement with the parliamentary Labour Party in recent weeks.
The measures include:
– Cutting the time refugees are initially granted to stay in the UK, from five years to a 30-month “core protection” system, which can only be renewed if it is not safe for them to return.
– Refugees will have to spend 20 years in the UK before being allowed to apply for settled status, up from five years.
– There will be no automatic right to family reunion for refugees under core protection.
– Housing and weekly allowances will no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers, and those who can work or have assets will have to contribute to their costs in 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.
– Syrians with no right to be in the UK could potentially be forcibly returned home following the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime, under plans being considered by the Government.
In the policy document Ms Mahmood said the measures were part of a “more hard-headed approach” to removing failed asylum seekers.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described the government’s asylum plans as “baby steps, but positive”.
However, she warned that any plan that does not involve leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is “doomed to fail”.
The latest Home Office figures show 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025.
This is the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
A contributing factor has been the continued flow of small boats across the English Channel, with almost 40,000 people making the crossing so far in 2025.
The reforms have been modelled on the Danish system, which is seen as one of the strictest in Europe.
Denmark has reduced the number of asylum applications to the lowest number in 40 years and successfully removed 95 per cent of rejected asylum seekers.
But refugee charities have raised concerns over the proposals, with Safe Passage International describing them as a “major row back” on providing safety for those who need it.
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