Overview
- The Home Office published a 30‑page blueprint titled Restoring Order and Control proposing refugee‑status reviews every 30 months and extending the route to permanent residence to about 20 years for irregular arrivals.
- The package, now before MPs and not yet law, borrows from Denmark’s approach and is framed as a deterrent to rising Channel crossings.
- Accommodation and cash support would become discretionary, with benefits potentially denied to applicants deemed able to work, those holding assets, or people who offend or work illegally.
- Removal powers would widen through a single permitted appeal, tighter family‑reunion rules, the option to deport families, and threatened visa restrictions on countries that refuse returns.
- Ministers said non‑heirloom valuables could be seized to offset costs, though Shabana Mahmood rejected talk of blanket jewelry confiscations, as Conservatives offered support, Labour MPs and NGOs condemned the plan, and 2025 small‑boat arrivals topped roughly 39,000.