The home secretary is set to announce the largest overhaul in the UK’s immigration system in modern times, as she said “we must restore order and control” over who enters and remains in the country.
Shabana Mahmood will address the House of Commons on Monday to lay out “the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times”, effectively since the Second World War.
Modelled on the Danish system, the aim of the reforms is to make the UK less attractive for illegal immigrants and make it easier to deport them.
Under the plans, she will bring forward a bill to change how article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to family life, is applied in migration court cases.
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That’s as the Home Office claimed it had seen a rise in the use of rights-based appeals in recent years as a means of avoiding deportation.
The changes would see only those with immediate family in the UK, such as a parent or child, being able to use article 8 as grounds to stay in future.
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The home secretary, who has been in the job for 73 days, also plans to change the law so that multiple attempts to appeal against refusals for asylum will no longer be allowed.
Furthermore, refugees will face a 20-year wait before they can apply for permanent settlement as part of the government’s plans.
The Home Office said the “golden ticket” deal has seen asylum claims surge in the UK, drawing people across Europe, through safe countries, onto dangerous small boats.
Political correspondent
We’re told that Shabana Mahmood, the still new home secretary, is “a woman in a hurry”.
She’s been in the job for 73 days – and is now announcing “the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times” – effectively since the Second World War.
Her language is not just tough – it’s radical. Not what you’d have expected to hear from a Labour home secretary even just a few months ago.
“Illegal migration”, she believes, “is tearing our country apart. The crisis at our borders is out of control”.
Her team argues that those never-ending images of people crossing the Channel in small boats have led to a complete loss of faith in the government’s ability to take any action at all – let alone deliver on its promises.
The political reality is that successive failures of Tory and Labour ministers have fuelled the inexorable rise of Reform.
Under the proposals, refugee status will become temporary and subject to regular review, with refugees removed once their home countries are deemed safe.
Housing and weekly allowances will no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.
But the shake-up will also see the introduction of safe and legal routes to the UK in a bid to cut dangerous journeys in small boats across the Channel.
A new independent body – similar to one in operation in Denmark – will be set up to fast-track the removal of dangerous criminals, and last-minute appeals will be expedited.
Ms Mahmood has denied that her plans to clamp down on illegal immigration are “racist” – instead describing them as a “moral mission”.
She said illegal immigration was causing “huge divides” in the UK, and added: “I do believe we need to act if we are to retain public consent for having an asylum system at all.”
Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Ms Mahmood said she had observed how illegal migration had been “creating division across our country”.
She added: “I can see that it is polarising communities across the country. I can see that it is dividing people and making them estranged from one another. I don’t want to stand back and watch that happen in my country.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Britain has always been a fair, tolerant and compassionate country – and this government will always defend those values.
“But in a more volatile world, people need to know our borders are secure and rules are enforced. These reforms will block endless appeals, stop last-minute claims and scale up removals of those with no right to be here.”
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Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed Ms Mahmood “finally talking seriously about tackling illegal immigration”, but described the home secretary’s proposed plans as “a few weak changes”.
She said: “If the home secretary actually wants to cut illegal immigration, she should take up my offer to sit down with her and work on a plan that will actually stop the boats, rather than a few weak changes that will meet the approval of Labour MPs.”
