UK to cut protections for refugees under asylum ‘overhaul’: govt
By AFP
November 15, 2025
Pedestrians pass a closed entrance to London Bridge Underground Station - Copyright AFP Prabin RANABHAT
Britain will drastically reduce protections for refugees under plans to overhaul its asylum system, the Labour government said on Saturday.
The measures were announced as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure over irregular migration in the face of soaring support for the hard right.
“I’ll end UK’s golden ticket for asylum seekers,” interior minister Shabana Mahmood declared in a statement.
Presently, those given refugee status have it for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually citizenship.
‘We will restore order and control to our borders,’ said Shabana Mahmood – Copyright AFP Oli SCARFF
But Mahmood’s ministry, known as the Home Office, said it would cut the length of refugee status to 30 months.
That protection will be “regularly reviewed” and refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once they are deemed safe, it added.
The ministry also said that it intended to make those refugees who are granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the UK long-term, instead of the current five.
The Home Office called the proposals the “largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times”.
Starmer, elected last summer, is under pressure to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats from France, something that also troubled his Conservative predecessors.
More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year following such dangerous journeys — more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022.
The crossings are helping fuel the popularity of Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, which has led Labour by double-digit margins in opinion polls for most of this year.
Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high, with some 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures.
UK Asylum reform: Full list of MPs opposing government’s immigration proposals
More than a dozen Labour MPs have expressed criticism of the government’s radical reforms to Britain’s asylum system.
Shabana Mahmood has proposed sweeping new reforms to the UK asylum system today, which has quickly led to a visceral backlash from many Labour figures.
Purportedly modelled on Denmark’s tough immigration rules, the new measures could see fast-tracked deportations, and a quadrupling of the time it might take to achieve permanent status.
It’s prompted a fierce debate within the party, with many Labour MPs quick to express their horror at the perceived draconian measures.
However, other Labour figures such as Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash and Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes have indicated their support.
Speaking to the BBC, asylum minister Alex Norris defended the measures and said the “fair and humane” plans would “restore order and control at our borders”.
Here is LabourList’s tracker of which MPs have made their disapproval known:
Tony Vaughan
The new MP for Folkestone and Hythe was among the first to make their displeasure at the new proposals clear. His post has now become totemic in opposition to the government’s harsh new measures.
He posted on X: “The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong. We absolutely need immigration controls. And where those controls decide to grant asylum, we should welcome and integrate, not create perpetual limbo and alienation.”
Several other Labour MPs have shared Vaughan’s remarks including Clive Lewis, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Kate Osborne, Olivia Blake and Peter Lamb.
Nadia Whittome
Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome hit out at the Home Secretary’s proposals in the House of Commons, describing the proposed reforms as “dystopian”.
She said: “It’s shameful that a Labour government is ripping up the rights and protections of people who have endured unimaginable trauma.”
John McDonnell
Veteran left winger John McDonnell responded to Vaughan’s original post, making clear his own opposition to the reforms.
He said: “Tony Vaughan is one of the new MPs elected for Labour last year & in his contributions to Commons debates has displayed a considered approach to issues. He’s certainly not what the media would call a ‘usual suspect.’
“I suspect he is reflecting here what many in the PLP feel.”
Abtisam Mohamed
Sheffield Central MP Abtisam Mohamed also replies to the original post by Vaughan.
She said: “If we truly want an asylum system that works, the answer is clear: faster decisions, better accommodation, and a functioning agreement with France. Punishing recognised refugees won’t achieve any of that.
“We need a fair, workable approach, not another round of policies that divide communities and fail on their own terms.”
Stella Creasy
In an op-ed in The Guardian today, Creasy blasted the government’s Denmark-style approach to asylum.
She wrote: “This is not just performatively cruel, it’s economically misjudged. There is scant evidence that Denmark’s decision to refuse to grant longterm asylum to most has deterred anyone who would have chosen Denmark as a destination.”
Long-standing member of Labour’s national executive committee Ann Black echoed Creasy’s concerns and said: “I’m with Stella on this” in a post on social media.
Simon Opher
Brian Leishman
The Alloa and Grangemouth MP, who recently got the Labour whip back, has told The New Statesman’s Megan Kenyon that he has “reservations” about the new measures.
He said: “We need to build a caring compassionate society that looks after people from the UK and also from other countries. And that needs to be done with real Labour Party values.”
Sarah Owen
The Luton North MP posted on BlueSky: “A strong immigration system doesn’t need to be a cruel one. It shouldn’t need saying – but refugees & asylum seekers are real people, fleeing war and persecution.”
Cat Eccles
Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles told PoliticsHome’s Harriet Symonds: “I’m massively disappointed and angry about what the Home Sec is saying.”
Rachael Maskell
MP for York Central Rachael Maskell criticised the proposals in an interview with Times Radio and said: “The dehumanisation of people in desperation is the antithesis of what the Labour Party is about.”
Richard Burgon
MP for Leeds East Richard Burgon described the plans as “morally wrong [and] politically disastrous” in a post on social media.
He said: “We’ve moved a long way from the days when the Prime Minister promised “an immigration system based on compassion and dignity.” We now have policies and briefings that seem to have been dragged from the moral sewer – and that are even being celebrated by far-right figures like ‘Tommy Robinson’.
“Labour voters who have abandoned the party will not be won back by this. They haven’t flocked to Reform but mainly to other progressive parties or now simply say they don’t know who to vote for. Many who have stuck with Labour so far will be repulsed by these attacks on vulnerable people fleeing war and persecution.”
Ian Byrne
MP for Liverpool West Derby Ian Byrne also criticised the government’s planned asylum system reforms and accused the Prime Minister of drifting “far from [his] promise of ‘compassion and dignity’, towards policies dragged from the moral abyss and applauded by far-right figures like Farage & Yaxley-Lennon”.
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