UK seeks inspiration from Denmark to shake up immigration system

According to information obtained by the BBC, Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood will announce a major change to the immigration and asylum system later this month.

And it will model some of its new measures on the Danish system, seen as one of the toughest in Europe.

We know that authorities are looking at Denmark’s stricter rules on family reunification and restricting most refugees from staying in the country temporarily.

Mahmood wants to make it easier to deport those who have no right to be in the country, while reducing the incentives that attract people to the UK.

But some in his own party oppose going the Danish route; A left-wing Labor MP says it is too “harsh” and contains echoes of the far right.

At the Labor Conference in September, Mahmut promised “Whatever it takes will be done” to regain control of Britain’s borders.

It was impacted by Denmark’s reduction in the number of successful asylum claims to its lowest level in 40 years, except for 2020, due to pandemic travel restrictions.

And we are told he sent senior Home Office officials to Copenhagen last month to examine what lessons could be applied in the UK.

Last week we also went to Denmark to learn how their immigration system works.

Mahmood’s opposite number, Danish Immigration and Integration Minister Rasmus Stoklund, is a member of Labour’s sister party, the Social Democrats.

He told us: “We have tightened our laws in many ways.

“We are bringing more people back to their homes. We have made family reunification very difficult in Denmark.

“If you commit a crime, you will be expelled from school much more easily. We have also prepared different programs to help people return home voluntarily.”

There is no indication that the UK government will follow the Danish example in offering significant sums (the equivalent of £24,000) for asylum seekers to return to their country of origin, including contributing towards their children’s education costs.

However, the BBC is aware that some of the issues Stoklund outlined to us are being closely scrutinized at the Home Office.

In Denmark, refugees who are personal targets of a foreign regime will likely be granted protection.

But most people who successfully gained asylum while fleeing conflict are now only allowed to stay in the country temporarily.

They can be sent back once the Danish government decides their country is safe.

200 refugees from Syria four years ago residence rights were canceled Even before the fall of the Assad regime, although they were not subsequently deported.

For those who have been in Denmark longer, the time required to obtain settlement rights has been extended and conditions such as full-time employment have been added.

Denmark’s stricter rules on family reunification have also attracted the attention of UK Home Office officials.

If you are a refugee granted residence rights in Denmark, both you and your partner applying to join you in the country must be 24 years of age or over.

The Danish government says this is to prevent forced marriages.

The partner in Denmark must not have claimed benefits for three years and must also provide a financial guarantee, and both partners must pass a Danish language test.

Refugees living in public housing described as “parallel societies” – that is, places where more than 50 percent of the residents are from what the Danish government calls “non-Western” backgrounds – will not benefit from family reunification at all.

UK Home Office in September New applications under the Refugee Family Reunification scheme have been suspendedNew rules are expected to be prepared.

Before September, the scheme allowed spouses, partners and people under 18 to come to the UK without passing the income and English language tests that apply to other immigrants.

Mahmood is unlikely to go all the way to Denmark in announcing Britain’s family reunification rules, but he seems likely to take steps down a more restrictive path.

According to Rasmus Stoklund, stricter immigration and integration rules are aimed at preserving the nature of Danish society.

He says Denmark is a small country, with a population less than a tenth of that of England.

“We live peacefully and quietly with each other. I guess you could compare us to the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.

“We expect people who come here to participate and contribute in a positive way, if they don’t they are not welcome.”

Using Tolkein’s analogy, if the Danes are Hobbits, who are their enemies, the Orcs?

“I wouldn’t call them Orcs, but of course the biggest challenge we face is our lack of ability to deport some foreign criminals.”

In Denmark, as in Britain, there is a lively political debate about whether the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) makes it more difficult to deport foreign criminals.

Like the UK government, Stoklund does not want to leave the ECHR but believes changes can be made.

The Danish government launched a review into how this could be done, and Stoklund agreed that he could make common cause with his British counterparts.

“I think it’s very positive every time I hear that other countries have the same concerns and are frustrated in the same way as many of us in Denmark.”

It is understood that Mahmood wants to meet Stoklund at the first opportunity.

Labor ministers have political as well as practical lessons to learn from Denmark.

In 2015, the country’s center-left government was in trouble and a right-wing populist party was rising in the polls; Immigration was increasingly worrying voters.

There are parallels with Britain today, as Reform UK maintains its poll lead over Labor.

Downing Street is interested in how a centre-left party managed to defeat the Danish People’s Party, once an ally of Nigel Farage’s UKIP in the European Parliament, to return it to power.

Ida Auken, the Social Democrats’ environment spokeswoman, said taking a tougher stance on immigration neutralized a toxic issue for the left and opened up room for it to pursue progressive policies in other areas.

“For us, it was permission to operate on the things we wanted to do.

“We want to have an educated workforce with social security, and we want to make a green transition.

“And we would never have been able to do that if we didn’t have those strict immigration policies.”

Some senior ministers in Britain are thought to find this argument convincing.

Critics note that while there are similarities with the United Kingdom, Denmark’s political and electoral systems are different, as well as some challenges.

The country does not face fleets of small boats from the North Sea or the Baltic.

Since Danish is not as widely spoken as English, the language requirements are likely to discourage at least some potential refugees.

While the vast majority of Social Democrat MPs support tougher policies, there is much more caution among some Labor MPs.

Off the record, some mainstream Labor MPs say they would oppose transferring Danish policies to the UK.

Former leader Clive Lewis, who is on the left wing of the party, is strongly opposed to following the Danish route in a bid to leave Reformation UK behind.

“Denmark’s Social Democrats have retreated, what I call a hardline approach to immigration.” he says.

“They adopted many of the talking points of what we might call the far right.

“Labour needs to win back some Reform-leaning voters, but you can’t do that at the expense of losing progressive votes.

“That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re bleeding support in the center and on the left.”

Jo White, who leads a group of 50 Labor MPs in the “Red Wall” seats in the Midlands and northern England, wants ministers to go further in the Danish direction.

He argues Labor will pay a heavy political price if it does not adopt policies such as requiring some asylum seekers to contribute to the cost of their stay.

“As a result, we will be heading into a general election where Reform will be the biggest challenger for the majority of Labor seats… and we will be wiped out.”

“Migration: The Danish Road” will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 1.30pm on Sunday 9 November and will also be available on BBC Sounds.