Shabana Mahmood will announce major changes to the UK system later this month, it has been reported
At least 1,200 migrants have crossed the Channel in just three days as the government looks to Denmark for a shake-up of immigration rules.
The latest Home Office figures show 621 people arrived in nine boats on Thursday – 648 arrived on Friday.
More boats have already arrived on Saturday – although official figures have not yet been release – and the total for this year so far is 38,223.
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This year’s total is already higher than for the entire of 2024 and looks likely to go well beyond 40,000 before the end of 2025.
It comes as the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood dispatched officials to Denmark last month to study its border control and asylum policies, which are seen as some of the toughest in Europe.
Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunions and restricting some refugees to a temporary stay are among the policies being looked at.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaks on stage at Britain’s Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool (Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay)
Mahmood will announce major changes to the UK system later this month, according to the BBC, which first reported the plans.
Labour MPs are split on the move. Some in so-called Red Wall seats, which are seen as vulnerable to challenge from Reform UK, want ministers to go further in the Danish direction.
Others believe the policies will estrange progressive voters and push the party too far to the right.
The government’s ‘one in one out’ policy agreed with France this summer is in turmoil after it emerged at least on migrant deported under the scheme managed to return to the UK.
The Iranian man, who has not been identified, claimed to be a victim of human trafficking after crossing the Channel for a second time on a small boat.
Mahmood wants deterrents in place to stop migrants seeking to enter the country via unauthorised routes, while making it easier to remove those who are found to have no right to stay in the UK.
Stoke-on-Trent Central Labour MP Gareth Snell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that any change bringing “fairness” to an asylum system that his constituents “don’t trust” is “worth exploring”.
He said it was “worth looking at what best practice we can find from our sister parties around the world where they have managed to find practical solutions” to managing immigration.
But Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome, who is a member of the party’s Socialist Campaign Group caucus, urged against emulating the Danish model, suggesting it was “far-right”.
“I think these are policies of the far-right. I don’t think anyone wants to see a Labour government flirting with them,” she said.