“I can see – and I know my colleagues can – that illegal migration is tearing our country apart. It’s our job as a Labour government to unite our country and if we don’t sort this out, I think our country becomes much more divided,” she said.
The series of reforms to the asylum system to be announced by Mahmood in the Commons is aimed at making Britain a less attractive destination for illegal migrants.
Migrants who arrive illegally either in small boats across the Channel or in lorries, or those who overstay their visas and then claim asylum, will have to wait 20 years to secure permanent settlement.Credit: AP
She is also proposing a consultation on abolishing some current legal duties that compel the UK to provide destitute asylum seekers with benefits, including housing.
Currently, the home secretary has a statutory legal duty to provide support for all destitute asylum seekers.
But those who have a right to work and who can support themselves, but choose not to do so, will now find their housing and weekly allowances revoked, Mahmood is expected to say.
She wants support for asylum seekers to become a “discretionary power”, meaning the Home Office can deny assistance to those who work, have assets, fail to comply with removal directions, engage in criminality, disrupt accommodation settings, or work illegally.
Mahmood will say: “This country has a proud tradition of welcoming those fleeing danger, but our generosity is drawing illegal migrants across the Channel. The pace and scale of migration is placing immense pressure on communities.
“This week, I will set out the most sweeping changes to our asylum system in a generation. We will restore order and control to our borders.”
However, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said on Saturday, London time, that Labour should commit to leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) altogether.
London’s Telegraph has revealed multiple cases where illegal migrants have invoked the ECHR to avoid deportation.
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Philp told the Telegraph: “I think this is another gimmick which involves tinkering around the edges.
“If they were serious about ending illegal immigration, they would come out of the ECHR and ensure every illegal immigrant was deported within a week of arrival to prevent them claiming asylum in the first place.”
He added: “The government trumpet their removal numbers. But only a tiny fraction of these crossed by small boat, amounting to just 5 per cent of small boat arrivals in that time. And 83 per cent of the numbers returned were voluntary.
“Whilst some of these new measures are welcome, they stop well short of what is really required and some are just yet more gimmicks – like the previous ‘smash the gangs’ gimmick.”
Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon described the government’s plans as “harsh and unnecessary”, and claimed they “won’t deter people who have been persecuted, tortured or seen family members killed in brutal wars”.
He added: “Instead, they are more likely to force them into destitution and sleeping rough on the streets.”
The changes are part of what government sources claim to be “the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times”.
They are modelled on Denmark, where migrants’ rights to remain are conditional on being in full-time employment, learning Danish and having no criminal record.
Senior Home Office officials were dispatched to Copenhagen, the Danish capital, to learn about the country’s asylum policy earlier this year.
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The government has also promised that access to taxpayer-funded benefits will be prioritised for those making a contribution to the economy and communities.
Elsewhere in her statement, the home secretary will propose new statutory rules that require judges to prioritise public interest and safety over migrants’ claims that deportation would breach their family rights or put them at risk of “inhuman” treatment if they were returned to their home country.
The new rules will limit the ability of judges to block deportations of migrants for “exceptional” reasons, which now account for a third of successful appeals, by tightening the definition. They will bar claims from migrants who say they will suffer “undue hardship” simply because medical standards are lower in their home countries.
The moves came as the Home Office revealed almost 50,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and other immigration offenders had been removed from the UK since July 2024, a 23 per cent increase on the previous 16 months.
The Telegraph, London
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