Mahmood to announce ‘sweeping reforms’ to tackle illegal migration

Shabana Mahmood is set to announce sweeping reforms next week aimed at making the UK less attractive for asylum seekers.

The home secretary is expected to set out plans to deter migrants from coming to the UK and make it easier to deport those who do on Monday.

Ms Mahmood is modelling the changes on the Danish system, having dispatched officials to the country last month to study its border control and asylum policies. She wants to reduce any incentives asylum seekers may have to come to Britain.

Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunions and restricting some refugees to a temporary stay are among the policies being looked at.

Ms Mahmood is also expected to be preparing changes to human rights legislation to make it easier to deport people who cross the Channel in small boats.

Home Office minister Mike Tapp told LBC on Thursday that the government would make “tweaks” to prevent “abuse of the legal system”.

Changes will include requiring judges to prioritise public safety over migrants’ rights to a family life, or the risk that they will face “inhuman” treatment if returned to their home country, The Telegraph reported.

open image in gallery

Home Office officials described Ms Mahmood’s plans as “the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times”.

A senior Home Office civil servant, Simon Ridley, told MPs this week that the department was “looking at a number of different international systems”, adding: “The Danes have done some really quite innovative changes and reforms. They have got the numbers moving in a downward direction, a combination of much clearer and quicker decision-making, the rights that accrue are less and take longer to accrue.

“They have connected their asylum system very directly to their returns. They are operating at a small scale but there is a lot to learn from them.”

Home Office permanent secretary Antonia Romeo said the Danish government had had “real success” in two areas: “One is looking at incentives, and one is scaling up returns.”

She said: “The home secretary will be announcing policy changes directly aimed at reducing the number of people in asylum.”

Ahead of next week’s announcement, the Home Office announced it had removed or deported 48,560 people from the UK since Labour came to power.

The figure, which includes failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and others with no right to be in the UK, is a 23 per cent increase in removals compared to the 16 months before last year’s election.

Ms Mahmood said: “Nearly 50,000 illegal migrants have been removed or deported since the election.

“We’ve ramped up enforcement, deported foreign criminals from our streets, and saved taxpayers millions.

“I pledge today to scale up the removal and deportations of illegal migrants and do whatever it takes to secure our borders.”

open image in gallery

The government has also sent around 100 people back to France under the “one in, one out” returns deal for those who cross the Channel in small boats.

But despite the removals, small boat crossings continue to be a major political headache for the Government.

So far, some 39,075 people have made the journey, according to analysis of Home Office figures.

The figure is up 19 per cent on the same point in 2024 and up 43 per cent on 2023, but remains 5 per cent lower than the equivalent point in 2022, the peak year for crossings.

On Monday, the Home Office confirmed a second man had re-entered the UK by small boat having been returned to France under the “one in, one out” deal.

The government said he would be deported back to France shortly and insisted his immediate detection and detention showed the system was working.

Ms Mahmood’s proposals next week are expected to include measures to make the UK less attractive to would-be migrants, with Mr Tapp telling LBC ministers wanted to “bring down the asylum shopping that we’re seeing across Europe”.

Some research has suggested that deterrence policies have little impact on asylum seekers’ choice of destination, but a 2017 study said Denmark’s “negative nation branding” had proved effective in limiting asylum applications.