Key facts
- UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has proposed reforms to the asylum system.
- A new means-tested scheme would require asylum seekers to pay around £10,000 for living costs.
- Failure to pay could result in denial of settled status.
- Plans include accelerating safe and legal asylum routes.
- The reforms are part of a new immigration and asylum bill.
- Charities have criticized the proposals as draconian and cruel.
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has outlined significant reforms to the asylum system, including a controversial means-tested scheme that would require asylum seekers to pay approximately £10,000 for their state-funded living costs or face denial of settled status. This proposal, alongside plans to expedite legal asylum routes like employer sponsorship, aims to address public and political anxieties surrounding immigration and Channel crossings.
Mahmood, appointed in September 2025 with a mandate to adopt a tougher stance on immigration, has described illegal immigration as 'tearing our country apart'. Her proposals, influenced by Denmark's policies, also include faster removal of families with refused asylum claims, restrictions on claims under the European convention on human rights, and ending the legal duty on councils to support asylum seekers. Refugee charities have labeled these measures as 'draconian' and 'performative cruelty', with veteran Labour peer Alf Dubs urging a reversal of these policies.
Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future thinktank, suggests the immigration and asylum bill serves partly as a 'communication tool' amidst competing political pressures. He notes that the government can enact policy changes without legislation and highlights the challenge for Labour in balancing its coalition's left and right wings on immigration. A recent dispute between Mahmood and Home Office minister Mike Tapp over plans affecting migrant care workers underscored the human cost of these policy shifts, with campaigners objecting to rule changes for those in the care sector.
While Channel crossings have decreased by 40% compared to the same period in 2025, attributed partly to EU border policies, Katwala believes further reductions require accessible legal routes alongside a clear understanding that unauthorized routes are unlikely to succeed. He points to the Biden administration's approach, integrating swift returns with legal pathways, as a model for managing illegal crossings and encouraging broader European cooperation to protect the principle of asylum from populist pressures.