Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has confirmed Labour is ending a “stalling tactic” used by failed asylum seekers to speed up the deportation of illegal migrants in the UK.
Ms Mahmood is preparing to dish out blanket rejections to failed asylum seekers who submit last-minute pieces of new evidence before absconding.
The Home Office hopes the change will free up time for the equivalent of almost 1,500 extra case decisions a year.
Current rules enable asylum seekers to submit new evidence after refusal, including when claimants do not comply with the appeals process or abscond.
The loophole forces caseworkers to spend seven-and-a-half hours considering every additional submission, GB News understands.
However, the Home Office now believes the changes will reduce the time needed to less than an hour.
Ms Mahmood will set out how she plans to introduce the stricter changes in a keynote speech on March 5.
The Home Secretary, who is also introducing new migration legislation next week, told GB News: “Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood unveiled sweeping asylum overhauls | PA
“But we will have no tolerance for those who seek to game the system by making unlimited human rights claims as a stalling tactic to frustrate their removal.
“We will change the rules to scale up the removal and deportation of those that have no right to be here.”
Future changes, which the Home Secretary is expected to defend as in line with British values, will also close the loophole that allows failed asylum seekers to make unlimited and free human rights claims.
Failed asylum seekers will instead only be able to stay in the UK if they pay fees and provide stronger evidence as to why their removal is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Shabana Mahmood is looking to accelerate the deportation of failed asylum seekers
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HOME OFFICEReform UK and the Tories have warned Ms Mahmood that Britain must leave the ECHR to get a grip of the migrant crisis.
Nigel Farage, who last year unsuccessfully brought forward his so-called “Brexit 2.0” legislation, continues to argue that withdrawal from the Strasbourg court is paramount to establishing full sovereignty for the UK.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf last month suggested leaving the ECHR is essential to achieve his target of deporting 288,000 people each year.
Meanwhile, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp confirmed the Tories would push ahead with withdrawal at the 2025 Conservative Party Conference.
The total number of migrants who have crossed the Channel has now exceeded 195,000 | GB NEWS
Migrants reach the UK after crossing the Channel | PA
However, the Home Secretary opted against backing complete withdrawal, instead opting to narrow down “family connection” to parents and their children, resetting “the public interest” test so the default becomes a removal or refusal, and tightening where human rights claims can be heard.
Ms Mahmood is battling to get a grip of the small boats crisis after it was confirmed that more migrants have crossed the Channel under Sir Keir Starmer than under any other Prime Minister.
Labour has also welcomed more than 350 migrants under Ms Mahmood’s “one-in, one out” deal, with just 281 being returned to France.
But the Home Office last month revealed nearly 60,000 people have been deported or left the UK voluntarily since the 2024 General Election.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is also facing pressure from backbench Labour MPs
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PACritics point out that a vast majority of the total number removed – around 43,000 – left the country voluntarily.
Meanwhile, Ms Mahmood faces a battle with Labour MPs over her migrant crackdown.
Ex-Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon said it was time to “ditch the approach of aping Reform and kicking the left which has alienated so many people who have voted Labour previously”.
Following defeat in the Gorton & Denton by-election, Labour MP Apsana Begum warned migration played a role in the “catastrophic result”.