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Agence France-Presse

Britain will drastically reduce protections for refugees and end automatic benefits for asylum seekers, the Labour government announced late on Saturday, under new plans aimed at slashing irregular immigration and countering the hard-right.
The measures, modelled on Denmark’s strict asylum system, were announced as Prime Minister Keir Starmer comes under pressure from surging popularity for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party.
“I’ll end the UK’s golden ticket for asylum seekers,” interior minister Shabana Mahmood declared in a statement.
But the head of Britain’s Refugee Council warned the government the measures would not deter people from trying to reach Britain and urged a rethink.
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, known as 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 also said that it intended to make those refugees who were granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the UK long term. Currently, they can do so after five years.
Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high, with some 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures.

The Home Office called the new proposals, which Mahmood is due to 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.
A statutory legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers, introduced in a 2005 law, would also be revoked, the ministry 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 help to any asylum seeker who could work or support themselves but did not, or those who committed crimes.
Starmer, elected last summer, is under pressure to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats from France, something that also troubled his Conservative predecessors.
More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year following such dangerous journeys – more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022.
The crossings are helping fuel the popularity of Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, which has led Labour by double-digit margins in opinion polls for most of this year.
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 home as soon as authorities deem there is no longer a need for a safe haven.
Family reunions are also subject to strict requirements, including a minimum age for both parents, language tests and guarantees of funds.
Britain’s Mahmood is also expected to announce a tightening of rules around family reunions.
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, urged the government to rethink its plans, saying they “will not deter” the 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’s more left-wing lawmakers will probably oppose the plans, fearing that the party is losing voters to progressive alternatives such as the Greens.


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Britain

UK says it’s ending ‘golden ticket’ for refugees with asylum overhaul

Migrants wade into the sea to try to board smugglers’ boats and cross the English Channel from France into Britain in September. Photo: AFP

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer (right) and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (centre) visit Peacehaven Mosque near Brighton in southern England in October. Photo: AFP

UK police arrest asylum seeker sex offender mistakenly freed from prison

Demonstrators protest after the mistaken release of an asylum seeker sex offender. Photo: Reuters

Ethiopian asylum seeker and sex offender Hadush Kebatu. Photo: Essex Police via Reuters

UK health secretary denies plot to topple Starmer as prime minister

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer outside 10 Downing Street in London. Photo: Reuters

British Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Photo: Reuters

Starmer’s party trails Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party in opinion polls. Photo: dpa

UK’s Farage unveils plan to deport asylum seekers, warns of ‘civil disorder’

Reform UK Nigel Farage poses in front of a screen displaying “deportation departures” at the launch of his party’s plan to deport asylum seekers, at Oxford Airport in Kidlington, Britain on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Migrants picked up at sea while attempting to cross the English Channel from France. Photo: AFP

The former RAF Wethersfield airfield in Braintree, Essex, the largest mass accommodation site of asylum seekers. Photo: EPA

A child holds up the Union Flag as police separate groups of protestors outside accommodation for asylum seekers in Orpington, Britain. Photo: EPA

Grim night on English Channel as 3 die, 3 go missing trying to cross to UK

Migrants onboard a smuggler’s boat attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Hardelot in Neufchatel-Hardelot, northern France. Photo: AFP

Migrants wade through the sea to board an inflatable dinghy leaving the coast of northern France to cross the English Channel on August 25. Photo: Reuters

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Those given refugee status will have it for 30 months instead of five years, and must wait 20 years to apply to live in the UK long term


Those given refugee status will have it for 30 months instead of five years, and must wait 20 years to apply to live in the UK long term.


UK says it’s ending ‘golden ticket’ for refugees with asylum overhaul

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Those given refugee status will have it for 30 months instead of five years, and must wait 20 years to apply to live in the UK long term

Those given refugee status will have it for 30 months instead of five years, and must wait 20 years to apply to live in the UK long term