UK govt defends refugee shakeup in face of hard-right

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Britain’s home secretary on Sunday defended plans to reduce protections for refugees and end automatic benefits for asylum seekers, insisting that irregular migration is “tearing our country apart”.

The measures, modeled on Denmark’s tough asylum system, aim to prevent thousands of migrants from reaching England on small boats from northern France.

But the proposals were criticized by the refugee council charity as “draconian and unnecessary” and are likely to antagonize left-wing lawmakers within Prime Minister Keir Starr’s embattled Labor government.

“I really reject the idea that dealing with this issue somehow engages right-wing talking points,” Home Secretary for Secretary Shabana Mahmood told BBC television.

“It’s a moral mission for me, because I can see that illegal immigration is tearing our country apart, it’s dividing communities.”

Currently, those granted refugee status have up to five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave and eventually citizenship.

But Mahmud’s ministry, known as the Home Office, said it would reduce the length of refugee status to 30 months.

It added that this protection would be “regularly reviewed” and that refugees would be forced to return to their home countries once deemed safe.

The ministry also said it intended to make it 20 years before refugees who had been granted asylum were allowed to stay in the UK long-term, up from the current five years.

He also announced that he would create “new safe and legal routes” for genuine refugees through “capped work and study routes”.

Asylum claims in the UK are at a record high, with 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures.

The Home Office called the new proposals, which Mahmoud will present to Parliament on Monday, “the biggest review of asylum policy in modern times”.

It said the reforms would make it less attractive for irregular migrants to come to the UK, and make it easier to remove those already in the country.

Benefits Crackdown

A statutory duty to provide assistance to asylum seekers introduced in a 2005 law will also be repealed, the Home Office said.

This means that accommodation and a weekly financial allowance will no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.

It would be “arbitrary,” meaning the government could refuse help to any asylum seeker who could work or support himself but didn’t, or who had committed crimes.

Starr, who is elected in July 2024, is under pressure to ban France from crossing the Channel in small boats, something that also upset his conservative predecessors.

More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year after such perilous journeys – more than in all of 2024 but less than the record set for 2022.

Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, has led Labor by double-digit margins in the polls for most of this year.

Refugee Council chief executive Anwar Suleiman urged the government to reconsider its plans, saying they “will not stop” the crossing.

“They must ensure that migrants who work hard and contribute to the UK can build secure, settled lives and return to their communities,” he said.

Labor is taking a hit from Denmark’s coalition government—led by the center-left Social Democrats—which has implemented some of the toughest immigration policies in Europe.

Senior British officials recently visited the Scandinavian country, where successful asylum claims are at a 40-year low.

Refugees in Denmark are entitled to a one-year renewable residence permit, and are encouraged to apply as soon as the authorities deem that they are not in need of safe haven.

Family unions are also subject to strict requirements, including minimum ages for both parents, language tests and funding guarantees.

Labour’s more left-wing lawmakers are likely to oppose the plans, fearing the party is alienating voters from progressive alternatives like the Greens.