Major changes to asylum system set to come into force

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will announce that from Monday any asylum seeker successfully given refugee status in the UK will be offered only temporary protection.

The move represents one of the most significant changes to the UK's asylum system for a generation and is likely to anger some on Labour's left wing.

But these measures will come into force without a parliamentary vote as they simply change existing rules.

Under the new rules, asylum seekers' cases will be reviewed every 30 months, after which they could be sent to their country of origin, provided it is deemed safe to do so. There will be an exception for unaccompanied children.

Some of Mahmood's other proposed reforms would need to be passed into law following full parliamentary scrutiny and are therefore unlikely to come into force until later this year.

This includes doubling the time it takes most migrants to gain permanent residency rights in the UK from five to 10 years. In the case of refugees it could take 20 years.

Mahmood last week visited Denmark where the Social Democrats, Labour's sister party, saw off an electoral challenge from a populist right-wing party by toughening its own stance on immigration.

Denmark had moved from a system of offering refugees seven years of protection and a route to permanent settlement, to reviewing their cases at least every two years.

The UK approach was previously that refugees received a five-year initial period of leave to remain.

Speaking to the BBC on her fact-finding trip to Copenhagen, Mahmood said the government is "changing an age-old assumption of what it means to be a refugee -moving from a permanent to a temporary status".

She said this is because "it will be less attractive for illegal migrants to come to our country" and she wanted to "change the calculus in the minds of the people about to get on a boat", adding: "We will have a much more difficult system for illegal arrivals."

But some in her own party have already accused her of "aping" Reform UK and have questioned tougher immigration policies after the loss of the once-safe seat of Gorton and Denton to the Green Party.

Its leader Zack Polanski had accused Labour of echoing the rhetoric of the far-right on immigration.

Imran Hussain, from the Refugee Council charity, told the BBC that reviewing the status of refugees - who were successful, not failed, asylum seekers - would be costly and distract the Home Office from speeding up the system.

He also warned that if refugees felt they "had one foot in the departure lounge" even though their asylum claim had been accepted, then this would make it more difficult for them to hold down employment and to integrate.

But the home secretary, speaking to the BBC at the British Embassy in Copenhagen, said the importance of her changes should not be underestimated.

She said: "Honestly I really believe these reforms are existential for us as a country and we have a real problem with a lack of control in our border system and what that does to public trust and confidence in politics - but also in the ability of the state to actually just do anything at all."

On her visit, Mahmood also inspected dormitory accommodation for new arrivals to Denmark at a reception centre in a rural location, 16 miles from the Danish capital.

She expressed approval of the conditions - warm even in the sub-zero temperatures that Denmark was experiencing, but basic bordering on austere.

She emphasised that she was fully committed to moving asylum seekers out of hotels and into similar conditions in the UK.

And she acknowledged that Labour could lose the next election if it could not keep its pledge to end the use of asylum hotels.

She said: "This is a key priority. If we fail to fulfil our promise to the British people then I would expect they will vote accordingly.

"It means losing the right to be the government of your country."

But while there are some parallels with Denmark, there are also differences.

It is not only a much smaller and less diverse country than the UK, it also does not face the challenge of small boats filled with potential migrants travelling to its shores.

Both Reform UK and the Conservatives say that the Channel crossings won't be stopped unless Mahmood is willing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

She will not do that, though she is seeking to alter how it is interpreted to allow more asylum seekers to be removed.

In 2025, a total of 41,472 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats, which was almost 5,000 more than the previous year.

Asked if she should be straight with voters that the problem of illegal immigration would not be solved in this Parliament, Mahmood acknowledged it was "going to be difficult" and she is determined to get the numbers down.

The home secretary will give a speech this week on making the "progressive case" for immigration control.

Around 40 Labour MPs last month raised concerns about the impact of the proposals to change permanent settlement rights on migrants already living here, describing the retrospective approach as "un-British" and "moving the goalposts".

They have warned it could worsen the UK's skills shortage, particularly in the care sector.