Sawt Falasteen - UK govt defends plan to limit refugee status

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 are widely seen as an attempt to counter a hard-right surge in popularity. They are likely to be opposed by left-wing lawmakers within Prime Minister Keir Starmer's embattled Labour government and the Refugee Council charity has already branded them "harsh and unnecessary".

The centre-right opposition Conservatives also criticised the measures, their home affairs spokesman Chris Philp saying the government was just "tinkering with the edges".

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood hit back, telling BBC television she rejected the idea that the proposals meant Labour was "engaging in far-right talking points.

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

- 'Block endless appeals' -

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

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 now intended to make people granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the United Kingdom indefinitely.

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.

Mahmood's reforms will also include new legislation to make it harder for irregular migrants and foreign criminals to use the European Convention on Human Rights to stop deportation, the Home Office announced late Sunday.

In a statement, Starmer said the reforms would "block endless appeals, stop last-minute claims and scale up removals of those with no right to be here".

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.

- Benefits crackdown -

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

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

It will become "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.

More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived on small boats this year -- more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022, when the Conservatives were in power.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot welcomed the proposals, saying asylum seekers risked 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, warning that 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.

- The Danish model -

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.

Labour has trailed Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, in opinion polls for most of this year but its tougher stance on immigration risks losing voters to progressive alternatives such as the Greens.

H.Darwish--SF-PST