Britain to overhaul asylum system with review of human rights laws and refugee status

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Britain will begin an overhaul of its asylum system on Monday, making refugee status temporary and reinterpreting human rights laws to make it easier to deport migrants who arrived illegally.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will outline changes to how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) should be interpreted by UK courts to give the government greater control over who can remain in the UK.

“These reforms will prevent endless appeals, prevent last-minute claims and increase the elimination of people who don’t have a right to be here.”

In what the centre-left Labor government says is the cleanest asylum policy of modern times, Mahmud will announce changes that include a quadrupling to 20 years of the time refugees must wait to be settled permanently.

The government also threatened a visa ban on Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo unless those countries accepted the return of illegal immigrants and criminals.

The government takes a strict stance on asylum

Immigration has become a top issue for voters in recent months, with people arriving in small boats from France the most visible sign of illegal immigration. The issue has helped improve the UK, led by veteran anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage, who has polled the polls.

Zia Yusuf, a senior reform member, said the public had been told there was no way to stop people from arriving on the coast illegally, but said existing laws and possible opposition from Starr’s lawmakers meant Mahmud’s proposed changes were unlikely to happen so far.

Tony Wannon, a Labor lawmaker and senior lawyer, was one of the first to publicly criticize the proposals, adding that the rhetoric would encourage “the same culture of division that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities”.

In the year to the end of March, 109,343 people claimed asylum in the UK, a 17% increase over the previous 12 months. Still, fewer people claim asylum in the UK than in their EU partners France, Germany, Italy or Spain.

Most immigrants arrive legally. Net migration hit a record high of 906,000 in the year, before falling to 431,000 in 2024, partly reflecting the tougher rules.

Mehmood warned against the dark forces during the game on migration

Mahmood said Britain had always been a tolerant and welcoming country for refugees and he realized his proposals could be met with backlash from some in his own party, who said it was wrong to deport people recognized as refugees.

But he said an asylum system prone to abuse was allowing “dark forces” to unleash anger, such as protests outside hotels housing migrants.

“Until we act, unless we act, we risk losing popular consent to have an asylum system,” the Guardian newspaper said.

“A country without secure borders is a less secure country for people who look like me.”

Under its proposals, the government seeks to change the interpretation of Article 8 of the ECHR, governing the right to family life. It would make it clear that family contact means immediate family, such as a parent or child, preventing people from “using dubious connections to stay in the UK”.

It added that the UK would also work with like-minded countries to review the application of Article 3, which prohibits torture. He argued that “the definition of ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ has gone beyond what is reasonable”, making it too easy to challenge deportees.

The changes fall short of abandoning the ECHR entirely, as advocated by the Reform and Conservative parties. But human rights charities still lamented the moves.

Cyle Reynolds, head of Asylum Advocacy on Freedom from Torture, said the rules would “punish people who have already lost everything,” adding that it was “not who we are as a country”.

Polls show the country is divided on the issue. However, a YouGov poll in August found that 45% of Britons would support admitting more new immigrants and requiring the large numbers who have arrived in recent years to leave.

“I can understand why there have been protests,” Jenny Fenwick, 56, a personal assistant, told Reuters at London’s Charing Cross train station. “I think asylum seekers come here because they know they’re going to get housing, money, you know, a good life.”