Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced a series of hardline asylum reforms, including a means-tested scheme requiring asylum seekers to pay approximately £10,000 each for state-funded living costs or risk being denied settled status. The measures, part of the immigration and asylum bill set to be debated by MPs, have been condemned by refugee charities as a tax on those fleeing war, torture, and famine.
The reforms also include plans to speed up the opening of safe and legal routes to claim asylum, such as employer sponsorship, in an effort to address criticism from Labour backbenchers. Mahmood described the package as a “moral mission,” but refugee charities and Labour peer Alf Dubs, a Holocaust survivor, have denounced what they call “performative cruelty.”
Other provisions in the bill include accelerating the removal of families whose asylum claims have been rejected, curbing certain claims under the European Convention on Human Rights, axing the legal duty on councils to provide asylum seeker support, and strengthening age assessments. Earlier this year, Mahmood made refugee status temporary, requiring reviews every 30 months.
Mahmood, appointed home secretary in September 2025 to project a tougher line on immigration, has previously described illegal immigration as “tearing our country apart.” Her proposals are influenced by Denmark’s centre-left government’s strict framework. Sunder Katwala of the British Future thinktank noted that the government already has the power to make significant changes without legislation, suggesting the bill serves partly as a “communication tool” amid conflicting political pressures from recent election results.
