The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is set to announce sweeping changes next week aimed at making the UK less attractive for migrants, with measures modelled on the Danish system. She is expected to outline plans to deter migrants from coming to the UK and facilitate deportations, in a statement to MPs on Monday. Officials have been dispatched to Denmark to study its border control and asylum policies.
Mahmood is also preparing changes to human rights legislation to prioritise public safety over migrants' rights to family life or the risk of inhuman treatment upon return. Home Office officials described the plans as the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times. The announcement comes as the Home Office confirmed it has removed or deported 48,560 people since Labour came to power, a 23% increase compared with the 16 months before the election.
Despite these removals, small boat crossings remain a challenge. So far this year, 39,075 people have made the journey, a 19% increase on the same point in 2024. The government has also implemented a 'one in, one out' returns deal with France, under which about 100 people have been returned. A second man who re-entered the UK via small boat after being returned to France has been detained and will be deported again.
