Migrants who have established families while residing illegally in the UK are set to lose their right to fight deportation on human rights grounds.
Illegal arrivals will be banned from arguing against their removal by implementing Article 8 rights, which protects an individual’s right to a private and family life.
The clause, outlined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), will be revised so that migrants “gaming the system” will face greater obstacles to applying to stay in the UK.
In the past, the enshrined article has been manipulated as a way for asylum seekers to defy state-ordered deportation and, as a result, Britain has been called on to rip up the UK’s commitment to the ECHR.
The redrafted rights will deny illegal migrants chance to fight their deportation unless they live under the same roof as their children or partner.
But individuals who start up families, or have “dubious” connections, while residing illegally in the UK will not be able to apply for such privileges.
The new policy will declare “no weight should be given to a private or family life established by a person at a time when the person is in the UK”.
On the ECHR reforms, a Home Office spokesman said: “Failing to comply with the immigration system should not be rewarded.
Plans are underway to reform the infamous Article 8
|
GETTY
“These reforms will curtail people’s ability to rely on family or private life established while they had no right to be in the UK, ensuring the public interest in effective immigration control is only outweighed in truly exceptional cases.”
In 2025 alone, GB News revealed that 77,000 people were allowed to stay in the UK on account of the controversial clause.
The Home Office found, under the new legislation, there would be an “estimated 11,700 additional refusals” of appeals launched by illegal migrants.
But the civil servants warned that those who are denied a claim could simply stay in Britain without legal authorisation.
The document outlining the Denmark-style reforms admitted that around 55 per cent of applicants might not even leave the UK after their failed appeal.
BRITAIN’S BORDERS CRISIS – READ MORE:
Chris Philp spoke to GB News this morning
|
GB NEWS
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp ripped into the “minor tweaks” planned by Labour, adding they will make “no difference whatsoever in practice”.
“Fine-tuning Article 8 and modern slavery laws was tried before and did not work,” he told The Telegraph.
“The only way to end illegal immigration is to pull out of the ECHR and any other vexatious obligation that blocks removal, so we can deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival.
“These gimmicks from Labour will not move the needle and are simply performative – just like their previous absurd claim to smash the gangs.”
The proposals also demonstrate possible loopholes which could be abused by illegal migrants, including foreign criminals, by claiming that they only have to say they have a “genuine and subsisting” parental relationship in a bid to stay.
Shabana Mahmood’s legislation will also force denied asylum seekers to gather all of their claims into just one appeal, rather than repeatedly lodging an appeal to extend their time in the UK.
Those who apply too late will be disqualified and questioned due to the lack of punctuality.
A temporary refugee status model will be created, so that applicants who claim it is unsafe to return home will be sent back to their country after their nation is no longer high risk again.
The same policies will review the Modern Slavery Act as well, so that claims under the Act must be created within a deadline of arriving in the UK.