{"id":576783,"date":"2025-11-17T19:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T19:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/576783\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T19:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T19:44:13","slug":"britain-no-longer-guarantees-support-for-destitute-asylum-seekers-under-tough-new-regime-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/576783\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain no longer guarantees support for \u2018destitute\u2019 asylum seekers under tough new regime \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s Labour<\/a> government has unveiled what it calls the \u201cmost sweeping asylum<\/a> reforms in modern times\u201d. They include limiting the right of refugees to stay in Britain permanently and a crackdown on migrants working illegally with delivery apps such as Deliveroo.<\/p>\n

The measures also include reviewing individual claims every 2\u00bd years and sending applicants back to their home countries, such as Syria<\/a>, if they are deemed safe. The UK<\/a> will also make it harder for failed asylum seekers to use family provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights to stop their deportation.<\/p>\n

Officials will also be able to force refugees and asylum seekers with assets such as cars to sell them to help pay for accommodation and support.<\/p>\n

Refugees will also have to wait 20 years for permanent status, while the scope for appeals will be tightened with the setting up of a new appeals body.<\/p>\n

The home office\u2019s Restoring Order and Control document, which lays out the plans, also includes a promise to end the UK government\u2019s legal obligation to support destitute asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will restore a discretionary power to offer support . . . We will also deny support to those who have deliberately made themselves destitute,\u201d says the document.<\/p>\n

It also proposes ending the automatic right of asylum seekers to bring over family, as well as more relaxed rules on residency applications for refugees who switch out of the \u201ccore\u201d international protection system to work and study visa programmes instead.<\/p>\n

Shabana Mahmood, the UK\u2019s home secretary, said Britain had become the favourite destination in Europe for those seeking to \u201casylum shop\u201d. Asylum claims rose in Britain by 18 per cent last year, she said, while elsewhere in Europe they fell 13 per cent.<\/p>\n

While some Labour rebels have criticised some of the changes as \u201crepugnant\u201d, advisers to the government are understood to see the reforms as crucial for the political survival of the administration. Labour currently lags Nigel Farage\u2019s anti-migrant Reform UK in polls.<\/p>\n

Ms Mahmood, meanwhile, pitched the aim of cutting the number of refugees and asylum seekers as more of a \u201cmoral mission\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said the existing asylum system was designed for a \u201csimpler era\u201d and she would cut through a \u201cthicket of laws\u201d to update it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere asylum seekers have failed in their claims, many frustrate our attempts to remove them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have shown ourselves unwilling to show the necessary toughness . . . to assert our right to return those with no right to be here.”<\/p>\n

In future, she promised British voters, \u201cwhen an asylum seeker has failed in their claim, we will take a more hard-headed approach to removing them\u201d.<\/p>\n

UK prime minister Keir Starmer<\/a> said it was \u201cdevastatingly simple\u201d that the numbers arriving on small boats would not fall unless there was a \u201cstronger deterrent\u201d. The Labour government said it is exploring its own third-country returns scheme after it abolished the previous Tory government\u2019s Rwanda scheme.<\/p>\n

The reforms formally launched by Ms Mahmood late on Monday are themed around three key areas. The first is cutting the number of asylum-seeker arrivals. Secondly, making it easier to deport those whose claims have failed and, thirdly, promoting legal asylum routes to Britain with a cap on the numbers.<\/p>\n

As well as measures such as shortening the leave to remain, Britain will also cut access to taxpayer funds and expand right-to-work checks. Apps such as Deliveroo have also agreed to sign data-sharing agreements to detect asylum seekers who are working.<\/p>\n

Ms Mahmood laid out her plans in the House of Commons on Monday evening, where the opposition Tory leader Kemi Badenoch praised her \u201cfresh energy\u201d but said the proposed reforms were \u201cnot enough\u201d.<\/p>\n

The question now for Ms Mahmood is whether Labour backbenchers will rebel in big numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s Labour government has unveiled what it calls the \u201cmost sweeping asylum reforms in modern times\u201d. They include…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,38002,5804,1144,712,16,3106,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-576783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-labour-party-uk","14":"tag-migrant-crisis","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-uk-politics","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115566756750494739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}