UK govt looks to adopt Danish-style immigration rules
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce a major overhaul to the UK’s immigration rules in the coming weeks, with changes modeled on the Danish system.
The Home Secretary sent officials to Denmark last month to review its border control and asylum policies, seen as some of the toughest in Europe.
Denmark’s stricter rules on family reunification and restrictions on the temporary stay of some refugees are among the policies under review.
MPs from the ruling Labor Party in England were divided on the move.
Some of the so-called red-wall seats seen as vulnerable to a challenge from the UK Reform Party want ministers to go further in the Danish direction.
Others believe the policies will alienate progressive voters.
It comes after a difficult few months for the government, which has had to deal with a growing number of small boat crossings in the English Channel and a migrant deported under Britain’s repatriation deal with France has re-entered the country.
The Home Office said on Wednesday that the Iranian man was sent back again after arriving in the UK for the second time on October 18, a month after he was first deported.
But his second return to the country sparked criticism that the government was in “total chaos”, while ministers insisted his detection on arrival “showed the system was working”.
According to Home Office figures, 648 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK on nine boats on Friday, bringing the total for the year to 38,223.
Mahmood wants deterrent measures to stop people trying to enter the country unauthorized and to make it easier to deport those found to have no right to remain in the UK.
Sources said he wanted to meet his Danish counterpart Rasmus Stoklund, Denmark’s immigration minister and a member of the Social Democrats, as soon as possible.
Labor MP Gareth Snell told BBC Radio 4 that any changes that would bring “fairness” to an asylum system that his voters “distrust” were “worth exploring”.
He said it was “worth looking at the best practices from our sister parties around the world where they have managed to find practical solutions” on migration management.
But Labor MP Nadia Whittome, a member of the party’s Socialist Campaign Group group, called against imitating the Danish model.
“I think it’s the policies of the far right. I don’t think anyone wants to see a Labor government flirting with them,” he said.
Stoklund compared Danish society to “hobbits in The Lord of the Rings” and said that the arrival of people who do not make a positive contribution to the country will not be welcomed.
“We are a small country. We live peacefully and quietly with each other. I guess you could compare us to the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings,” he said.
“We expect people who come here to participate and contribute in a positive way, if they don’t they are not welcome.”
