Overview
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will set out the largest asylum reforms in modern times in the Commons today, cutting initial refugee protection to 30 months with regular reviews and potential return once home countries are judged safe.
- The government plans to repeal the statutory duty to provide housing and weekly allowances to asylum seekers, making support discretionary and withdrawable for those able to work or who breach rules.
- Proposals would reframe how Article 8 of the ECHR is applied to immigration cases by prioritizing public safety, restrict most cases to a single appeal, and create a new body to fast-track removals of dangerous offenders or claims with little prospect of success.
- The package adds capped safe and legal routes, including work and study pathways and community sponsorship schemes, and expands enforcement tools such as facial-age AI to challenge false child claims.
- Refugee charities and some Labour MPs condemn the plans as harsh or discriminatory, Conservatives label them too weak, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the measures are intended to restore order and enforce rules.