UK government poised to overhaul its asylum system as a political storm brews over migration
The British government plans to tighten the asylum system with a series of sweeping changes modeled on Denmark, aimed at reducing immigration and quelling a political storm over migrants making the perilous crossing of the Channel to enter the country without permission.
The policy changes, to be announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in the House of Commons on Monday, are another attempt to make Britain less attractive to asylum seekers and more easily remove migrants who are not entitled to asylum.
Mahmood said it was a moral duty to control the borders and reunite a country divided on flashpoints, which helped the rise of the far-right UK Reform Party, but denied that, as the daughter of immigrants, she had adopted the far-right talking points of the ruling centre-left Labor Party.
“People can see huge oppression in their own communities and they can also see a broken system – a system where people can break the rules, abuse the system and get away with it,” Mahmood told the BBC.
Successive governments have failed to stem the flow of migrants to British shores through various efforts, including the previous Conservative government’s never-implemented plan to send arrivals to Rwanda for asylum proceedings. The policy was scrapped last year when Labor leader Prime Minister Keir Starmer was elected and vowed to crack down on migrant smuggling rings.
More than 39,000 migrants arrived in the UK by boat this year, according to the latest Home Office figures; That surpasses the nearly 37,000 arriving in 2024. But that number is still far short of the nearly 40,000 people who will get to this point in 2022, the highest number ever recorded.
Although the number of arrivals by small boats has increased, they represent a small fraction of the total migration; Most people enter the UK legally with a visa. Net immigration – the number of people entering the UK minus the number leaving – has reached more than 900,000 a year by June 2023, according to official figures. This increase was driven in part by hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war in Ukraine and China’s crackdown on Hong Kong.
According to the Office for National Statistics, net migration stands at 431,000 by June 2025; That was down 49.9% from 860,000 the year before.
The issue of immigration has become more politically volatile this summer, as sporadic violent protests took place outside hotels where asylum seekers were staying after a migrant was arrested and later convicted of sexual assault for trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl.
The new reforms include scrapping the UK’s legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers, introduced under EU law in 2005, and allowing the government to withdraw guaranteed housing and weekly allowances. In addition, people who have the right to work but do not have the right to work and those who break the law or work illegally may also be denied benefits.
Refugee status will also be reviewed regularly to see if people can be repatriated safely.
Safe routes will be identified so that migrants can seek asylum without having to board overcrowded inflatable rafts and risk crossing the choppy channel.
Chris Philp, a Conservative member of Parliament, criticized the policy for “mending” the edges. He said the changes would not affect the scrapped Rwanda policy and that any immigrant entering the country without permission should be deported within a week.
“I don’t object to it in principle, but it won’t work,” Philip told the BBC. “This is a ruse. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It won’t stop people from getting on the boats.”
The Home Office said the new policy was modeled on Denmark’s success in reducing asylum applications to their lowest point in 40 years and eliminating 95% of those seeking to settle there.
Denmark was once a haven for refugees. But as Europe and the Western world struggled to cope with the mass exodus of people fleeing conflict, famine and poverty, it imposed strict restrictions on new arrivals, drawing international criticism for deterring people seeking asylum.
