UK announces drastic reduction in protection for asylum seekers, refugees under new plan

LONDON: The United Kingdom announced a drastic reduction in the protections for asylum seekers and refugees under a new plan aimed at slashing irregular immigration and countering the far right, as per Al Jazeera.

The measures, modelled on Denmark’s strict asylum system, were announced late on Saturday (local time) as Prime Minister Keir Starmer comes under pressure from surging popularity for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party.

“I’ll end UK’s golden ticket for asylum seekers,” Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood declared in a statement, with the Home Office, as her ministry is known, calling the new proposals the “largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times,” Al Jaazeera reported. Mahmood is due to lay out the policy in parliament on Monday.

UK Home Secretary to Announce Major Asylum Reforms

In the United Kingdom, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans for a historic overhaul of the asylum system, saying:
“On Monday, I will announce the most significant changes to our asylum system in modern times.”

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Meanwhile, the head of the UK’s Refugee Council warned the government that the measures would not deter people from trying to reach the country and urged a rethink. “They should ensure that refugees who work hard and contribute to Britain can build secure, settled lives and give back to their communities,” Enver Solomon said, Al Jazeera quoted.

Currently, people get refugee status for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually, citizenship. Mahmood’s ministry says 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 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.

Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high. Polls suggest immigration has overtaken the economy as voters’ top concern. Some 109,343 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2025, a 17 percent rise on the previous year and 6 percent above the 2002 peak of 103,081, as per Al Jazeera.

The Home Office said the reforms would make it less attractive for irregular migrants and refugees to come to the UK 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, as per Al Jazeera. (ANI)