Britain reviews human rights laws in major shake-up of asylum policy

The UK will overhaul its approach to human rights laws to make it easier to deport migrants who arrive illegally, in a major shake-up of asylum policy to be set out on Monday, part of efforts to thwart the rise of the populist Reform UK party.

Interior minister Shabana Mahmood will outline changes to how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) should be interpreted by courts to give the government greater control over who can remain in Britain, and who must leave.

“These reforms will block endless appeals, stop last minute claims and scale up removals of those with no right to be here,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, said in a statement.

In what the government says is the most sweeping asylum policy overhaul of modern times, Mahmood will also announce plans to make refugee status temporary and to quadruple the length of time refugees will have to wait for permanent settlement in Britain.

The government also threatened visa bans on Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo unless those countries accepted the return of illegal migrants and criminals.

GOVERNMENT SETS OUT TOUGHER STANCE ON ASYLUM

Immigration has become the most important issue for voters in recent months, with those arriving in small boats from France the most visible sign of illegal arrivals. The issue has helped propel Reform UK, led by veteran anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage, into a commanding opinion poll lead.

Zia Yusuf, a senior member of Reform, said the public were sick of being told there was no way to prevent people from arriving illegally on beaches, but said existing laws and likely opposition from Starmer’s lawmakers meant Mahmood’s proposed changes were unlikely to ever happen.

Tony Vaughan, a Labour lawmaker and senior lawyer, was one of the first to publicly criticise the proposals, adding the rhetoric would encourage “the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities”.

In the year to the end of March, 109,343 people claimed asylum in Britain, up 17% on the previous 12 months. Still, fewer people claim asylum in Britain than in its EU peers France, Germany, Italy or Spain.

Most migrants arrive legally. Net migration reached a record high of 906,000 in the year to June 2023, before it fell to 431,000 in 2024, reflecting tighter rules.

MAHMOOD WARNS DARK FORCES AT PLAY ON MIGRATION

Mahmood said Britain had always been a tolerant and welcoming country to refugees but she warned that “dark forces” were stirring up anger, after protests took place this summer outside hotels housing asylum seekers at public expense.

The interior minister said that risked threatening social cohesion and turning anger against those whose families had lived in Britain for decades, saying “a country without secure borders is a less safe country for those who look like me”.

Mahmood’s parents moved to Britain from Pakistan in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Under her proposals, the government wants to change the interpretation of Article 8 of the ECHR, governing the right to a family life. It would make clear that a family connection means immediate family, such as a parent or child, preventing people from “using dubious connections to stay in the UK”.

It added that Britain would also work with like-minded countries to review the application of Article 3, which prohibits torture, noting the “definition of ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ has expanded beyond what is reasonable”, making it too easy to challenge deportations.

It did not go as far as to say it wanted to leave the ECHR, as Reform and some in the Conservative Party have advocated.

However, the government’s harder stance on immigration has been criticised by charities who say it forces desperate people further into destitution.

Sile Reynolds, Head of Asylum Advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said the rules would “punish people who’ve already lost everything,” adding this is “not who we are as a country”.