Overview
- The government published the policy paper Restoring Order and Control on 17 November 2025 setting out its asylum and returns programme.
- The plan is organised around reducing arrivals, increasing removals and creating safe and legal routes, with an appendix listing reforms.
- The paper cites more than 400,000 asylum claims since 2021, about 106,000 people on state-funded support, and roughly 8,000 illegal working arrests in the year to October 2025.
- Ministers signal domestic legislation to steer how Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR apply in immigration cases, including a statutory definition of family.
- Legal analysts, including the Institute for Government and Professor Mark Elliott, say key proposals lack detail and would likely face tests in UK courts and in Strasbourg.