Yvette Cooper to suspend new refugee family reunion applications in asylum crackdown – live

Changes announced by Yvette Cooper to the refugee family reunion route will “push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers”, a leading refugee charity has said.

Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, responded to the home secretary’s announcement, saying: “Until now, family reunion has been one of the only safe and legal routes available that allows refugees fleeing war and persecution to be reunited with their partner and children.

“It is only for immediate family of people who have already been through the process of being recognised as refugees and overwhelmingly supports women and children – who made up nine out of ten visas granted through this route in the last year.”

He added: “Far from stopping people taking dangerous journeys to cross the Channel, these changes will only push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers in an effort to reunite with loved ones.

“This is not who we are as a country – we should not be forcing children to grow up without their parents.Family reunion is a lifeline. It enables refugees to rebuild their lives, integrate more quickly, and contribute to their communities.”

Steve Smith, CEO of Care4Calais, said: “We are forever hearing cries that refugees seeking protection should do so through official channels, but here we have the government restricting the last available safe route for women and children.

“Shutting off the hope of family reunification will only force more women and children to take dangerous journeys to seek sanctuary, including risking their lives by crossing the Channel.”

Refugees will now have to apply through the standard family scheme, which applies to British citizens. This requires them to demonstrate a minimum joint income of £29,000 per year before their foreign partner can join them in the UK.

Gunes Kalkan, head of campaigns at the refugee charity Safe Passage, has condemned Yvette Cooper’s suspension of refugee family reunion applications as “simply wrong”.

He added: “This will have disastrous consequences for the unaccompanied children and refugee families we support. Children, having already survived the horrors of war and persecution, belong with their parents.

“But this decision will leave them stuck alone and in camps, with no way to reach family or safety. We’re talking about children from conflict and high human rights abuse areas, such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Iran, who have been torn apart from family in the chaos.

“Without safe options, like family reunion, more people will be pushed into taking dangerous journeys to reach safety and loved ones.”

Prime Minister Kier Starmer has said he is “proud” of our flag in a post on X, but said they can be devalued when used to “divide”.

The widespread flying of Union and St George’s Cross flags, following an online campaign called Operation Raise the Colours, has become contentious and several local authorities have removed them from public infrastructure.

Some politicians have decried their removal, while others claim the increased number of flags is a result of xenophobia or racism.

The number of visas granted for family members of refugees has risen in recent months, with over 19,000 last year and 10,800 in 2025 so far.

The number of grants rose sharply from mid-2023, under the Conservative government.

In today’s speech, Ms Cooper warned that people-smuggling gangs were using family reunion rules to promote illegal crossings to the UK, adding that refugees were applying for the scheme sooner.

The lack of planning by the last Conservative government has led to the current asylum hotels situation, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said.

Responding to shadow home secretary Chris Philp, she told the Commons: “I would say to the shadow home secretary, a party that wants to be in Government should have a proper plan for the whole country, not just promote a chaotic approach that ends up making it worse in lots of areas, but that actually is their record.

“The reason that we have asylum hotels in the first place is because they did no planning.”

Ms Cooper said the Conservatives in Opposition are a “worse version” of what they did in government, and had ramped up rhetoric on policies that would “make the chaos worse”.

“Tweaking” rules will not be enough to tackle illegal migration, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said.

He told the Commons: “This is not just a border security crisis, it is a public safety crisis as well, and people up and down the country are furious. That is why they are protesting.

“If this Government were serious about fixing this problem, they would know that little tweaks here and there are not enough. Tweaks to Article 8 are not going to be enough.

“Tweaking the family reunion rules are not enough, returning maybe, if we are lucky, 50 people a week to France is not going to be enough.

“The only way these crossings will stop, the only way we’re going to get control of our borders back, is if everybody crossing the Channel knows they will get returned.”

He said the last Conservative government had a plan to tackle migrants coming over with the Rwanda Bill, and Article 8 of the Human Rights Act needed to be disapplied in immigration matters.

Over the past decade, the number of people coming on the refugee family reunion route has approached the number of asylum applicants.

There have been around 164,000 successful asylum applicants over this period, with 123,800 grants given to their family and dependants.

Now, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced that new applications for the refugee family reunion route will be “temporarily” suspended.

However, family members and dependants of refugees will still be able to apply in this period, under the wider family migration routes — which have stricter conditions.