Sawt Falasteen - UK govt defends refugee shakeup in face of hard right

The measures, modelled on Denmark's strict asylum system, aim to stop thousands of migrants from arriving in England from northern France on small boats -- crossings that are fuelling support for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party.

But the proposals were criticised as "harsh and unnecessary" by the Refugee Council charity and are likely to be opposed by left-wing lawmakers within Prime Minister Keir Starmer's embattled Labour government, which is trying to counter the hard right.

"I really reject this idea that dealing with this problem is somehow engaging in far-right talking points," Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told BBC television.

"This is a moral mission for me, because I can see illegal migration is tearing our country apart, it is dividing communities."

Presently, those given refugee status have it for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually citizenship.

But Mahmood's ministry, the Home Office, said it would cut the length of refugee status to 30 months.

That protection will be "regularly reviewed", and refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once they are deemed safe, it added.

The ministry said it also intended to make people granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the United Kingdom indefinitely.

It also announced that it would create "new safe and legal routes for genuine refugees" through "capped work and study routes".

Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high, with around 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures.

The Home Office called the new proposals, which Mahmood will lay out in parliament on Monday, the "largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times".

It said the reforms would make it less attractive for irregular migrants to come to Britain, and make it easier to remove those already in the country.

- Benefits crackdown -

A statutory legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers, introduced in a 2005 law, would also be revoked, the Home Office said.

That means housing and weekly financial allowances would no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.

It would be "discretionary", meaning the government could deny assistance to any asylum seeker who could work or support themselves but did not, or those who committed crimes.

Starmer, elected in July 2024, is under pressure to stop migrants crossing the Channel, something that also troubled his Conservative predecessors.

More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year following such journeys -- more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022.

Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, has been ahead of Labour by double-digit margins in opinion polls for most of this year.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot welcomed the proposals, saying asylum seekers risk their lives crossing the Channel because the conditions they get in Britain "are more permissive".

"We told the UK it was necessary to align certain conditions they give arriving immigrants with European standards," he said.

However, Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, urged the government to reconsider, saying the plans "will not deter" crossings.

"They should ensure that refugees who work hard and contribute to Britain can build secure, settled lives and give back to their communities," he said.

Labour is taking inspiration from Denmark's coalition government -- led by the centre-left Social Democrats -- which has implemented some of the strictest migration policies in Europe.

Senior British officials recently visited the Scandinavian country, where successful asylum claims are at a 40-year-low.

Refugees in Denmark are entitled to a one-year renewable residency permit, and are encouraged to return as soon as authorities deem their countries are safe.

Family reunions are also subject to strict requirements, including a minimum age for both parents, language tests and guarantees of funds.

The plans will likely face opposition from Labour's more left-wing lawmakers, fearing that the party is losing voters to progressive alternatives such as the Greens.

W.Mansour--SF-PST