Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce sweeping reforms of the UK’s asylum system next week.
The Times said the changes would be based on changes made in Denmark and other European countries which have made it harder to claim asylum and easier to remove people.
Home Office sources told the Times “excessive generosity and ease of remaining” in the UK had combined with systemic barriers and made deportations extremely difficult.
The measures will come as the Home Office announced that nearly 50,000 illegal migrants have been removed or deported from British soil since Labour came to power.
New figures published show a 23% increase in total removals or deportations compared to the previous 16-month period before July 2024 under the Conservatives.
It is understood many of the changes will be closely modelled on the policies of Denmark’s centre-left Social Democrats, who have presided over one of the toughest asylum and immigration systems in Europe.
The party’s reforms introduced in 2016 led to a 40-year low in asylum claims.
In Denmark refugees are given temporary residence permits, typically of two years, and in effect have to reapply for asylum when they expire.
Even for those who are allowed to extend multiple times, the route to citizenship has grown longer and harder.
Four years ago the Danish government planned to return around 200 refugees to Syria while the civil war raged because it said some parts of Damascus were safe.
The home secretary had sent senior officials to Denmark to see what lessons can be learned from their system.