Overview
- Mahmood’s plan introduces a 30‑month ‘core protection’ status renewable only if return remains unsafe, extends the path to settlement to 20 years, restricts family reunion and makes support discretionary, with those holding assets expected to contribute.
- Home Office officials said children born in the UK to refugee parents could be required to leave with them if parental status is revoked, unless the child has British citizenship; ministers say families would not be separated.
- The government is seeking to narrow how the ECHR is applied, with envoy Jake Richards engaging Strasbourg partners on limiting the use of Articles 3 and 8 ahead of a December justice ministers’ meeting.
- Around 20 Labour MPs, including Lord Alf Dubs, publicly criticise the package as punitive, while cabinet minister Steve Reed defends it as necessary to secure borders; Reform UK’s Nigel Farage calls the measures encouraging but questions delivery.
- Officials and reports cite record pressures of 111,084 asylum claims and 43,309 small‑boat arrivals in the year to June 2025, with a large share of claims made by people who entered on visas; Mahmood denies any plan to “take jewellery at the border.”