Tackling illegal migration a 'moral mission', Mahmood says

The home secretary has said that combating unlawful migration in the United Kingdom is a moral mission in the midst of big changes to reform asylum policy. People granted asylum needing to wait 20 years before applying to settle permanently, according to Shabana Mahmood's on Monday. Many people granted asylum will have their refugee status regularly checked, and those who are still deemed safe will be notified to return. Mahmood said on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg's show that illegal migration was

tearing the country apart. The Conservatives will deport illegal migrants

within a week," according to shadow home secretary Chris Philp, although Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said that asylum seekers should have the right to work.

The new measures are designed to make the UK a less attractive destination for illegal migrants, resulting in reduced small boat crossings and asylum claims. Many of the specifics and practicalities of the plans have yet to be made clear, and Mahmood will have the measures out by Monday. Mahmood's efforts also addressed unfair conditions under which she said she gave some asylum seekers better treatment than UK citizens.

I know illicit migration is causing major differences here in our own country,

she said, and I do agree we should take action if we want to keep public opinion for having an asylum system at all.

Currently refugee status lasts for five years, after which people can apply for indefinite leave to remain or settled status. Mahmood intends to extend this period to 20 years. After two-and-a-half years, refugee statuses will be reviewed and then regularly reviewed thereafter, as a result of the new initiatives. According to Mahmood, asylum seekers who use

safe and legal pathways

find jobs and contribute to society, although they did not have specific details, they may be able to apply permanently earlier. The strategy has been adapted from Denmark, where a centre-left Social Democrats' government has presided over one of Europe's toughest asylum and immigration policies. Refugees in Denmark are granted provisional residence permits for up to two years, and they will have to re-apply for asylum when they expire. Mahmood's hardline policy has already been met with resistance from Labour MPs, including Clive Lewis, who told the BBC that the Danish system echoed

talking points of the far right

and warned leftwing Labour voters, who may vote in favor of the Green Party. Mahmood denied this:

I am the child of migrants myself, my parents immigrated to this country lawfully in the late 60s and 70s. Immigration is well embedded in my life as a British citizen and the lives of thousands of my constituents.

I can see unlawful migration is ripping our country apart and fragmenting communities, and it is separating cultures.

Despite the UK being less generous than France, Germany, and Denmark when it came to assistance, she was pressed to withdraw asylum seekers. We know we have to deal with those pull factors, she said. She said criminal gangs were offering packages to refugees in the United Kingdom, informing them that they will get free hotels and food. According to her, the current system has no hope that the 10% of asylum seekers have the right to work would actually support themselves, and there is also the fear that

if you break the law of this country, you will lose your accommodation.

I think that actually places those individuals in a better position than most British citizens in social housing in this region,she said, adding:i think that is a basic rule of fairness. However, Philp dismissed Mahmood's plans asgimmicksthat were simplytinkering with the edgesof the problemI don't object to it in principle, but it isn't going to work,he told the BBC.I would go even further and say that if someone comes here illegally, they will not be able to claim asylum and will be deported within a week. Davey said that his party hadsome reservations

about the government's proposed reforms to asylum in the United Kingdom, but that would

look at the details. According to him, asylum seekers should be able to work because they then wouldn't need [government] help, and "better for the economy and better for asylum seekers.

The Refugee Council's Enver Solomon, the chief executive, said that rather than deter migrants, the 20-year cycle would

leave people in limbo and in intense fear for many years.

We need a system that is fair and accountable, and the only way to do this is to make decisions promptly, in a timely manner, and if someone is found to be a refugee, they continue to serve our communities and pay back,

he said on Sunday. According to government statistics, a total of 109,343 people applied for asylum in the United Kingdom in the 12 months to March this year, up 17% year on the year before. People's fear of the increasing number of asylum claims was largely because

the government has forgotten about their families," Solomon said. According to the most recent Home Office estimates, 1,069 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom in the last seven days. According to reports, there have been 10,289 arrivals by small boats since Mahmood became home secretary on September 5th this year. The figure for 2025 is more than 39,000. The number of people arriving this year is up more than the whole of 2024 (36,816) and 2023 (29,437)), but less than the total population at this time in 2022 (39,929).