Shabana Mahmood has unveiled sweeping asylum overhauls with faster removals as she faces a rebellion from her own backbenchers.
The Home Secretary said the UK was targeted by people “asylum shopping” around Europe as she faced the prospect of a backbench revolt to plans to toughen up the system.
The appeals system will be replaced with a “one shot” single-appeal model, which aims to speed up the process.
The new appeals body will decide cases quickly, late claims will be restricted, and weak cases will be refused after one interview, while claims will be heavily restricted, including tighter rules on Article 8 family-life pleas often used at the last minute to block removals.
Shabana Mahmood confirmed penalties would be brought in on countries that fail to comply with the return of illegal immigrants such as Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Namibia.
The UK will also resume removals to places where conditions have changed, including Syria, while Ms Mahmood said the Government would “continue to explore the possibility of return hubs”.
She told the Commons the Government would open new, capped, safe and legal routes into the country “as order and control is restored”.
Ms Mahmood said: “These will make sponsorship the primary means by which we resettle refugees with voluntary and community organisations given greater involvement to both receive refugees and support them, working within caps set by Government.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood laid out the plans in the Commons
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The Government would also create new routes for displaced students to study in the UK and remain flexible to new crises across the world.
She added: “I know the British people do not want to close the doors, but until we restore order and control, those who seek to divide us will grow stronger.
“It is our job as a Labour Government to unite where there is division.”
Kemi Badenoch had said the Government’s new asylum plans are “baby steps, but positive.” However, she warned that any plan that does not involve leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is “doomed to fail”.
The Conservative leader said: “I am pleased that she is bringing forward measures to crack down on illegal immigration. It’s not enough, but it is a start. I do want to praise the new Home Secretary, she’s bringing fresh energy and clearer focus to this problem, and she has got more done in 70 days in the job than her predecessor did in a year.”
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch responded to the Home Secretary’s comments
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The plans were met with opposition from Labour MPs, as Stroud MP Simon Opher said Labour should “stop the scapegoating of immigrants because it’s wrong and cruel” adding “we should push back on the racist agenda of Reform rather than echo it.”
Backbench MP for Nottingham East Nadia Whittome said it was “shameful that a Labour Government is ripping up the rights and protections of people who have endured unimaginable trauma.”
Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, said the party would lose support across the country over the proposals, adding: “It needs to be said we have got an immigration minister tweeting ‘deport, deport, deport’, and now this policy statement comes which scrapes the bottom of the barrel.
“If we are being frank, is this not a desperate attempt to triangulate with Reform? Like many other policy errors that have been made in recent months, is it not only morally wrong but another policy which is set to push away Labour voters. Why not recognise that now than in a few months with a U-turn?”
Kemi Badenoch responded to the Home Secretary in the Commons
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The reforms have been modelled on the Danish system, which is seen as one of the strictest in Europe. Denmark has reduced the number of asylum applications to the lowest number in 40 years and successfully removed 95 per cent of rejected asylum seekers.
But refugee charities have raised concerns over the proposals, with Safe Passage International describing them as a “major row back” on providing safety for those who need it.
Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said the reforms “sound tough” but they risk creating more delays and will not fix the real problems in the system.
Of the regular reviews of refugee status he said it will create further chaos and “overwhelm an overstretched system”, leaving families living with years of uncertainty.
The Reform leader suggested it was ‘an audition to join Reform’
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Reacting to today’s announcement, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said “Whilst the strong language from Shabana Mahmood is encouraging, even an audition to join Reform, I have serious doubts.
“Will it survive her own backbenchers in a vote? Will the new legal routes lead to even higher numbers? With the ECHR in place can any of this work?”
Green Party Leader Zack Polanski said: “Cruel. Callous. Cowardly. The public are seeing this Labour government for exactly who they are.
“We all have a responsibility to make them pay at the ballot box. Reject the hate. Reject them. This is not who we are. Let’s make hope normal again.”