The home secretary has announced an overhaul of the UK’s asylum system, pledging to secure its future “for generations to come” through the introduction of new safe routes for refugees from the autumn.
The proposals also include controversial changes to human rights laws, designed to streamline the deportation of individuals residing in the country illegally.
Shabana Mahmood outlined her vision, stating: “I will open new legal routes for genuine refugees, while closing loopholes that have been too often abused. My goal is simple: to ensure we have an asylum system not just today, but for generations to come.”
The new pathways will enable communities and certain “trusted” universities to sponsor refugees seeking sanctuary in the UK. This initiative was inspired by a Canadian scheme that has successfully settled 400,000 people since 1979. A separate route allowing employers to sponsor refugees is also anticipated to launch next year.
The Home Office has not specified the expected number of refugees using these new pathways, but it indicated the system would “operate at a much higher capacity” compared to the existing UK Resettlement Scheme, which currently accommodates only a limited number annually.
In addition to these new routes, Ms Mahmood confirmed that a new Immigration and Asylum Bill will seek to prevent what she described as “abuse” of human rights laws, specifically targeting protections related to family life and modern slavery.
The new law will tighten the definition of “family” for the purposes of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), restricting it to immediate family members only.
Critics of the asylum system have focused on Article 8 of the ECHR, saying it has been used to frustrate the deportation of people with no right to be in the UK.
The Home Office said the new definition would prevent situations such as one that prevented the deportation of a convicted domestic abuser from Poland because he acted as a “father figure” to his nephew.
The new legislation will also remove modern slavery protections from foreign offenders who have been jailed and reject claims made when deportation action has already commenced if there was an opportunity to make a claim earlier.
Ms Mahmood said: “Britain has always offered sanctuary to those fleeing war and persecution.
“But this system only survives if the public trusts that it is fair, controlled, and not open to abuse.”
But Friday’s announcement comes as Ms Mahmood faces questions about whether she will remain in post once Sir Keir Starmer leaves Downing Street.
Her planned changes to rules governing indefinite leave to remain (ILR) have drawn criticism from some Labour MPs, with Sir Keir’s likely successor Andy Burnham facing calls to scrap them.
During his by-election campaign in Makerfield, Mr Burnham suggested that he wanted a “consultation” on the proposals, leaving open the possibility that they could be revised.
Ms Mahmood also spent Friday embroiled in a row with one of her junior ministers, Mike Tapp, after he suggested exempting care workers from her ILR reforms.
Sir Keir resisted her calls to sack Mr Tapp, with Downing Street issuing a rebuke to both ministers.
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