Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will introduce new legislation on Thursday to overhaul Britain's asylum system. Asylum support and accommodation will become conditional from June, reserved only for those who genuinely need it and follow the law. The new measures will come into force in June.
Specific measures will target asylum seekers who commit crimes, removing them from asylum accommodation and stripping them of cash handouts. Those who work in Britain's black economy will be thrown out of taxpayer-funded accommodation, alongside foreign criminals and those refusing to leave the UK voluntarily. Officials predicted some 30,000 migrants could lose their support. Another 9,000 migrants were caught working illegally last year.
Current asylum accommodation statistics show 107,003 people are being supported by taxpayers, including 30,657 living in asylum accommodation. More asylum seekers are living in houses, flats and bedsits across the country, with 68,538 living in dispersal accommodation, up from 66,232 three months ago.
Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution.
Labour wants to use more former military bases for asylum accommodation and convert former hospitals, student digs and office blocks into homes for migrants. Labour could pay councils to buy up homes across the country, which would then be leased out to asylum accommodation providers, later forming part of the housing stock.
Officials said 21,000 migrants could be granted the right to work because they have been waiting for more than 12 months for their asylum claim to be processed.
Up to 400,000 asylum seekers will be 'immediately detained' and deported if Reform UK wins the next general election. Reform UK would detain and deport all illegal migrants who arrived in the five years prior to the next election, including those who arrived by small boat, clandestinely, or claimed asylum using fake documents. Assuming a Reform UK Government is formed after a General Election in 2029, over 400,000 people would be in scope of this policy.
But taxpayers cannot be expected to fund the lives of those who exploit the system or break our laws.
A Reform government would review all grants of asylum going back five years, leading to further deportations. Anyone who claimed asylum after overstaying a visa would be detained and deported under Reform UK's policy. A third category of asylum seeker - those whose home countries are now deemed to be safe - would be stripped of their humanitarian visas and be eligible for removal under Reform UK's policy. Circa 55 percent of asylum applicants arrived by small boat, clandestinely or without relevant documentation over the last five years, so the vast majority of people in scope will have their humanitarian status revoked.
The detention of such large numbers would pose a huge challenge as the current capacity of immigration removal centres is less than 3,000 beds.
A Reform spokesman predicted many of those targeted by the new policy would choose to leave Britain voluntarily. For those who remained, Reform UK would create 'pop up' detention centres.
Asylum support and accommodation will now become conditional – reserved only to those who play by our rules.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood visited Denmark, which has one of the toughest asylum and immigration systems in Europe. Denmark's Social Democrat-led government has reduced the number of asylum applications to the lowest number in 40 years and removed 95% of rejected asylum seekers.
Denmark has sought to deter new arrivals by largely moving from a permanent to a temporary stay model where most asylum seekers are sent back to their home country once they are deemed safe. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood believes that unless Britain follows a similar approach to Denmark, the far right will gain momentum, bringing 'havoc and chaos' to Britain's streets.
Ms Mahmood faces the prospect of a backbench revolt over the plans.
How conditional asylum support will be enforced starting in June has not been fully specified, nor have the details of Thursday's legislation been revealed.
How Reform UK would practically detain and deport up to 400,000 people given the current immigration removal centre capacity of less than 3,000 beds represents a major logistical question. What specific measures Labour will take to use former military bases and other buildings for asylum accommodation, and how the council home-buying scheme will work, require further elaboration.
Officials predicted some 30,000 migrants could lose their support under Labour's new plans. In contrast, Reform UK's proposal would affect up to 400,000 asylum seekers.