The Home Secretary is set to implement sweeping reforms to Britain’s refugee policies, with Shabana Mahmood preparing to go ahead with a Trump-approved asylum seeker plan.
The overhaul of UK human rights law will see all citizens from three African countries – Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo – slapped with visa sanctions.
Such sanctions would block all tourists, VIPs and business people from said nations from travelling to Britain if they do not co-operate more on the removal of illegal migrants.
As per The Times, the move was reportedly inspired by Trump administration homeland security secretary Kristi Noem.
Ms Mahmood said: “In Britain, we play by the rules. When I said there would be penalties for countries that do not take back criminals and illegal immigrants, I meant it.
Handout photo issued by Sky News of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood appearing on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme. Issue date: Sunday November 16, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Sky News/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
“My message to foreign governments today is clear: accept the return of your citizens or lose the privilege of entering our country.”
Ms Mahmood is set to rewrite how Britain grants refuge to those fleeing conflict and upheaval with a statement in the House of Commons on Monday, November 17.
The reforms are billed as the largest change to the UK’s asylum system in the modern era, and have been inspired by a strict approach taken by Denmark.
She will bring forward a Bill to change how the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is applied in migration court cases.
Only those with immediate relatives, like children or parents, will be able to remain in the UK in future.
The Home Secretary also plans to change the law so that multiple attempts to appeal against refusals for asylum will no longer be allowed. Ms Mahmood has insisted the overhaul is needed because the “pace and scale of change destabilised communities”.
On Sunday, November 16, the Home Secretary warned public consent for the asylum system may disappear if her major reforms were not introduced.
Ms Mahmood is also expected to fast-track the removal of dangerous criminals, and to expedite hearings for last-minute appeals against deportation.
Similarly, claims by migrants that they are facing modern slavery will be more closely scrutinised as a result of tweaks to the Modern Slavery Act.
Other reforms already trailed as part of the raft of reforms include that refugee status will be made temporary, so that people are returned to their homeland once it becomes safe.
At the same time, safe and legal routes to the UK will be introduced as a way to cut dangerous journeys in small boats across the English Channel.
Meanwhile, housing and weekly allowances will no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.
AI facial age estimate technology is also being rolled out to identify migrants’ age, in a bid to find out whether those claiming to be children really are.
Ministers have taken inspiration from the strict asylum approach taken by the Danes, whose government is of the same political stripe as Labour and has increased deportations of illegal migrants.
The Government’s plans have attracted some criticism, with the Refugee Council warning they would accrue a cost of £872 million over 10 years as a result of the need to review asylum seekers’ status to remain in the UK.
Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon insisted the changes “will not deter people from making dangerous crossings, but they will unfairly prevent men, women and children from integrating into British life”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the home secretary “sounds like a Reform supporter”. He added: “It’s a shame that the Human Rights Act, ECHR and her own backbenchers mean that this will never happen.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage -Credit:Getty Images
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch meanwhile warned that backbench Labour MPs could scupper the plans.
She added: “If the Home Secretary actually wants to cut illegal immigration, she should take up my offer to sit down with her and work on a plan that will actually stop the boats, rather than a few weak changes that will meet the approval of Labour MPs.”
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he would go further and deport failed asylum seekers “within a week”.
“Legal and illegal immigration is in danger of breaking Britain, we need radical solutions. Labour is just tinkering at the edges, rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.”
“Their measures today do not go far enough.”
Some 39,075 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats so far this year, according to the latest Home Office figures.
The arrivals have already passed the number for the whole of 2024 (36,816) and 2023 (29,437) but the number is below the total for 2022 (45,774).
The policy update comes as rumours swirl that a Liverpool City Region hotel is currently housing asylum seekers, with reports of a planned protest outside the building this weekend.
Hillcrest Hotels has categorically denied that asylum seekers are staying at its site in Cronton Lane in Widnes.