Families will be deported under controversial measures announced by Shabana Mahmood on Monday, as allies of the home secretary warned Labour rebels that the party’s existence depended on tackling illegal immigration.
The radical overhaul of the asylum system will see cash incentives offered to all families whose claims have been rejected to return to their home country. If they refuse to leave, the Home Office will “escalate” their cases to forcibly remove them from the UK, according to a 33-page policy document published by the home secretary.
More than two dozen MPs voiced public criticism of the reforms, including senior moderate figures such as Sarah Owen, chair of the women and equalities committee, who branded the proposals “repugnant”.
The Home Office said the plans aimed to tackle the “hesitancy” about returning families, which have created “particularly perverse incentives” for parents to send their children on small boats to the UK in order to “exploit” laws by putting down roots to thwart removal.
Mahmood will consult on her plans to rip up existing rules that do not prioritise the return of families but instead continue to give payouts until their children turn 18, even if they have exhausted all their appeals and are not co-operating with the returns process.
• As it happened: Shabana Mahmood shakes up asylum rules for ‘volatile and insecure’ world
The Home Office said this was creating a perverse incentive for families to remain in the UK.
Mahmood said she will “begin the removal of families” to safe countries. The Home Office revealed it was already looking at returning failed Syrian asylum seekers following the restoration of diplomatic relations after the overthrow of the Assad regime last year.
A separate measure will trial paying illegal migrants thousands more pounds in “financial incentive payments” to return home voluntarily. This will be higher than the current £3,000 payments offered to failed asylum seekers.
Migrants attempting to cross the English Channel in June
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
The changes were presented alongside almost 40 other measures, including plans to seize valuable assets from illegal migrants to pay towards the cost of housing them. The Home Office was forced to rule out seizing “sentimental” jewellery amid a fierce backlash from Labour MPs.
Refugees will lose their unconditional access to Universal Credit and their status will be temporary, reviewed every 30 months and only renewed if they are still in need of protection. Those whose countries become “safe” will be immediately removed, Mahmood pledged.
The reforms will be implemented in various ways. Some rules will be tweaked within weeks, while for others primary legislation will be required next year.
Mahmood issued a staunch defence of the proposals amid a growing backlash from Labour MPs.
The Conservatives and Reform UK welcomed some of the measures and offered their support if Labour went even further.
Kemi Badenoch says Labour is taking steps in the right direction
The proposals also won the backing of Emmanuel Macron’s government, with the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, saying they would help tackle the pull factors causing migrants to cross the Channel in small boats.
Mahmood insisted the changes were necessary to overhaul an asylum system that was “out of control and unfair”.
“The pace and scale of change has destabilised communities,” she told MPs in a statement announcing the proposals in the House of Commons. “It is making our country a more divided place. There will never be a justification for the violence and racism of a minority, but if we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred.”
Mahmood told of how she was regularly called a “f***ing P***” after the Liberal Democrats accused of her “stoking division” with “immoderate language”.
Allies of the home secretary responded to the growing number of Labour MPs publicly criticising the asylum reforms by warning that the party could cease to exist if they fail to tackle illegal immigration.
A source close to Mahmood said: “The Labour government was elected on a manifesto to secure our borders and bring down the levels of illegal migration. The entire government is behind these reforms, led by the prime minister.
“There has been a huge amount of engagement with the parliamentary Labour Party in recent weeks. That work will continue as we work with backbenchers to restore order and control and open up safe and legal routes for genuine refugees.
“The crisis at our borders is an existential issue for mainstream parties. If we don’t solve the crisis at our border, dark forces will follow.”
Steve Reed, the housing minister, said the reforms were necessary to end the “vile trade in human lives”.
He told Times Radio: “We cannot have a system that incentivises people to put their children on boats like that. We know that we need more safe and legal routes so that families who have the right to come here and seek asylum can get into the country, but we can’t continue to allow incentives to exist that result in children drowning in the Channel.”
At least 25 Labour MPs have expressed concern at various aspects of the reforms.
Owen said there was no evidence that stripping refugees’ rights would deter migrants crossing the Channel. Referring to a move by the previous Conservative government to remove children’s murals at immigration detention centres, she said: “Taking jewellery from refugees is akin to painting over murals for refugee children. These repugnant ‘deterrents’ did not work for the Tories, and they won’t work for us.”
Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, described the reforms as “deeply offensive”, accusing them of feeding division.
Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West, expressed concern that her own foster son — an Afghan refugee — may not have qualified for asylum under the new policies.
Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, said his party’s new asylum policy “scrapes the bottom of the barrel” and accused Mahmood of “a desperate attempt to triangulate with Reform”.
Cat Eccles, the Labour MP for Stourbridge, accused ministers of trying to “appease the electorate” with “dog whistles”.
She told Times Radio: “It does have echoes of reform and populist opinion. It just feels that they are trying to just be seen to be doing something just to appease the electorate. And yes, we’re here to please voters, but I don’t think this is the right thing to do right now.
“We should be making the case as to why we do need to be properly compassionate and not just pandering to these dog whistles.
“The number of Conservative MPs and the Reform MPs who were welcoming these new ideas, I think just tells you how vastly wrong we’ve got it.”
There was also a backlash from left-wing parties, charities, lawyers and religious leaders.
The UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, expressed concern about plans to make refugee status temporary, warning that it will “undermine integration and social cohesion”.
The Right Rev Dr Anderson Jeremiah, the diocese of London’s lead for racial justice, said Mahmood’s comments “shook me to the core”.
However, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, said the measures were “undoubtedly positive steps”.
She said: “We welcome making refugee status temporary, and we welcome removing the last Labour government’s legislation that created a duty to support asylum seekers. She’s right to do that.
“However, some of what she is announcing simply does not go far enough. On this side of the house, we believe that anyone who arrives illegally, especially from safe countries, should be deported and banned from claiming asylum.”