Britain said on Saturday that it would launch the largest comprehensive reform of its asylum seeker policy in modern times, inspired by Denmark’s approach, which is considered one of the strictest in Europe and has been widely criticized by human rights groups.
The Labor government is working to tighten its immigration policies, especially regarding the illegal crossing of small boats coming from France, in an effort to limit the growing popularity of the populist British Reform Party, which has pushed the immigration issue into the spotlight and forced the Labor Party to adopt a tougher stance.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that as part of these changes, the legal duty to provide support to some asylum seekers, including housing and weekly benefits, will be abolished.
The ministry, headed by Shabana Mahmoud, added that these measures will be applied to asylum seekers who are able to work but choose not to do so and to those who violate the law. She stated that priority in obtaining taxpayer-funded support will be for those who contribute to the economy and local communities.
On Monday, Shayana Mahmood is expected to provide more details about these measures, which the Home Office says are aimed at making Britain less attractive to illegal immigrants and making it easier to remove them.
Opinion polls indicate that immigration has overtaken the economy to become voters’ top concern. Some 109,343 people applied for asylum in the United Kingdom in the year ending March 2025, an increase of 17 percent on the previous year, and six percent above the peak recorded in 2002, which amounted to 103,081 asylum applications.
(Reuters)
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