Mahmood sets out plans for tougher asylum system

Evening Standard

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced sweeping changes designed to reduce the UK’s attractiveness to asylum seekers and bolster the process for removing people with no right to be in the country.

Transcript

00:01I know the British people do not want to close the doors.

00:04But until we restore order and control, those who seek to divide us will grow stronger.

00:10In recent years, asylum claims have hit a 40-year low.

00:14And now, across Europe, countries are tightening their systems in similar ways.

00:19We must act too.

00:22We will do so by making refugee status temporary, not permanent.

00:27A grant of refugee status will last two and a half years, not five.

00:32It will be renewed only if it is impossible for a refugee to return home.

00:37Permanent settlement will now come at 20 years, not five.

00:42I know this country welcomes people who contribute.

00:46For those who want to stay and are willing and able to, we will create a new work and

00:51study visa route solely for refugees, with a quicker path to permanent settlement.

00:56To encourage refugees into work, we will also consult on removing benefits for those who

01:02are able to work but choose not to.

01:06Outside of the most exceptional circumstances, family reunion will not be possible, with a

01:12refugee only able to bring family over if they have joined a work and study route and

01:18if qualifying tests are met.

01:20While over 50,000 were granted refugee status in the last year, more than 100,000 claimants

01:28and failed asylum seekers remain in taxpayer-funded accommodation.

01:34And we know that criminal gangs use the prospect of free bed and board to promote their small

01:38boat crossings.

01:40We have already announced that we will empty asylum hotels by the end of the Parliament.

01:45And we are exploring a number of large military sites as an alternative.

01:51We will now also remove the 2005 legislation that created a duty to support asylum seekers,

01:57reverting to a legal power to do so instead.

02:02While we will continue to support those who play by the rules, those who do not, be that

02:07through criminality or antisocial behaviour, can have their support removed.

02:12We will also remove our duty to support those who have a right to work.

02:18It is right that those who do receive support pay for it if they can.

02:23So those with income or assets will have to contribute to the cost of their stay.

02:29This will end the absurdity that we currently experience, where an asylum seeker receiving

02:33£800 each month from his family, and who had recently acquired an Audi, was receiving

02:40free housing at the taxpayer's expense, and the courts judged that we could do nothing

02:45about it.

02:48These measures are designed to tackle the pull factors that draw people into this country.

02:53But reducing the number of arrivals is just half of the story.

02:58We must also enforce our rules and remove those who have no right to be here.

03:05This will mean restarting removals to countries where they have been paused.

03:09In recent months, we have begun voluntary removal of failed asylum seekers to Syria once again.

03:15However, there are still many failed asylum seekers here from Syria, most of whom fled a regime

03:21that has since been toppled.

03:23Other countries are planning to enforce removals, and we will follow suit.

03:29Where a failed asylum seeker cannot be returned home, we will also continue to explore the possibility

03:35of return hubs, with negotiations ongoing.

03:39We must remove those who have failed asylum claims, regardless of who they are.

03:45Today, we are not removing family groups, even when we know that their home country is perfectly

03:51safe.

03:52There are, for instance, around 700 Albanian families living in taxpayer-funded accommodation,

04:00having failed their asylum claims.

04:02This is true despite an existing returns agreement, and that Albania is a signatory to the European

04:10Convention on Human Rights.

04:13So we will now begin the removal of families.

04:16Where possible, we will encourage a voluntary return.

04:20But where an enforced return is necessary, that is what we will do.

04:24Where the barrier to a return is not the individual, nor the UK Government, but the receiving country,

04:31we will take action.

04:33I can announce today that we have told Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Namibia,

04:39that if they do not comply with international rules and norms, we will impose visa penalties

04:44on them.

04:46And I am sending a wider message here.

04:49Unless other countries heed this lesson, further sanctions will follow.

04:55Much of the delay in our removals, however, comes from the sclerotic nature of our own system.

05:02In March of this year, the appeals backlog stood at 51,000 cases.

05:08This Government has already increased judicial sitting days, but reform is required.

05:14So we will create a new appeals body staffed by professional independent adjudicators.

05:20And we will ensure there is early legal representation available to advise claimants and ensure their

05:26issues are properly considered.

05:29Cases with a low chance of success will be fast-tracked.

05:33And claimants will have just one opportunity to claim and one to appeal, ending the merry-go-round

05:39of claims and appeals that frustrate so many removals.

05:44While some barriers to removal are the result of process, others are substantive issues related

05:50to the law itself.

05:52There is no doubt that the expanded interpretation of parts of the European Convention on Human

05:57Rights has contributed.

06:00This is particularly true of Article 8, the right to a family life.

06:04The courts have adopted an ever-expanding interpretation of this right, and as a result, many people

06:10have been allowed to come to this country when they would otherwise have had no right to.

06:15And we have been unable to remove others when the case for doing so seems overwhelming.

06:21This includes cases like an arsonist sentenced to five years in prison whose deportation was

06:27blocked on the grounds that his relationship with his sibling may suffer.

06:32And more than half of those detained are now delaying or blocking their removal by raising

06:36a last-minute rights claim.

06:40Article 8 is a qualified right.

06:42That means we are not prevented from removing individuals or refusing an application to move

06:48to the UK if it is in the public interest.

06:52To narrow Article 8 rights, we will therefore make three important changes in both domestic law

06:58and our immigration rules.

07:02Firstly, we will define what exactly a family is, narrowing this down to parents and their

07:08children.

07:09Secondly, we will define the public interest test so the default becomes a removal or refusal,

07:16with Article 8 rights only permissible in the most exceptional circumstances.

07:21Thirdly, we will tighten where Article 8 claims can be heard, ensuring only those who are living

07:29in the UK can lodge a claim rather than their family members overseas, and that all claims

07:34are heard first by the Home Office and not in a courtroom.

07:40We will also pursue international reform of a second element of the European Convention,

07:45the application of Article 3, the Prohibition on Torture and Inhuman Degrading Treatment or

07:51Punishment.

07:52We will never return anyone to be tortured in their home country.

07:58But the definition of degrading treatment has expanded into the realm of the ridiculous.

08:04Today we have criminals we seek to deport but discover we cannot because the prisons in

08:09their home country have cells that are deemed too small, or even mental health provision that

08:15is not as good as our own.

08:18As Article 3 is an absolute right, a public interest test cannot be applied.

08:24For that reason, we are seeking reform at the Council of Europe, and we do so alongside

08:30international partners who have raised similar concerns.

08:35But it is not just international law that binds us.

08:38According to data from 2022, over 40 per cent of those detained for removal claim they

08:44were modern-day slaves.

08:46This well-intentioned law is being abused by those who seek to frustrate a legitimate removal.

08:53So I will bring forward legislation that tightens the modern slavery system to ensure that it

08:58protects those it was designed for and not those who seek to abuse it.

09:04Taken together, these are significant reforms.

09:08They are designed to ensure that our asylum system is fit for the modern world, and that

09:12we retain public consent for the very idea of providing refuge.

09:18We will always be a country that offers protection to those fleeing peril, just as we did in recent

09:23years, when Ukraine was invaded, when Afghanistan was evacuated, and when we repatriated Hong Kongers.

09:31For that reason, as order and control is restored, we will open new, capped, safe and legal routes

09:39into this country.

09:42These will make sponsorship the primary means by which we resettle refugees, with voluntary

09:47and community organisations given greater involvement to both receive refugees and support them, working

09:54within caps set by Government.

09:57We will also create a new route for displaced students to study in the UK and another for

10:02skilled refugees to work here.

10:05And of course, we will always remain flexible to new crises across the world as they happen.

10:11I know the British people do not want to close the doors.

10:15But until we restore order and control, those who seek to divide us will grow stronger.

10:21It is our job, as a Labour Government, to unite where there is division.

10:26So we must now build an asylum system for the world as it is.

10:31One that restores order and control.

10:33One that opens safe and legal routes to those fleeing danger across the world.

10:38And one that sustains our commitment to providing refuge for this generation and those to come.

10:45I know the country we are.

10:47We are open, tolerant and generous.

10:50We are the greater Britain that those on this side of the House believe in, not the little

10:55England that some would wish we would become.

11:01These reforms are designed to bring unity where others seek to divide.

11:06Madam Speaker, I commend this statement to the House.

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