UK asylum seekers who break law to have support removed

Asylum seekers who break the law, or work illegally, will be thrown out of government-funded accommodation and lose their support payments, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to announce.

The home secretary’s reforms will also include the removal of the current legal duty to guarantee support to those at risk of destitution awaiting an asylum decision.

Mahmood is expected to make the “Labour case” for restricting assistance to some asylum seekers in a speech to a left-leaning think tank on Thursday.

The Conservatives said Mahmood should go “much further”, while the Green Party has accused her of echoing the rhetoric of the far right.

The home secretary has already unveiled several measures to toughen up the migration system ahead of her speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), including making refugee status temporary and stopping people from four countries applying for study visas.

The changes are designed to make the UK a less attractive destination for illegal migrants and stem the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Mahmood has just returned from a trip to Denmark, which has an asylum system the Home Office wants to move closer towards.

Her speech will be a pitch to those in her party who are sceptical of her approach, with Mahmood expected to emphasise that her changes would make the asylum system “compassionate but controlled”.

Some left-wing Labour MPs are calling for the government to change its approach on migration in the wake of the party’s defeat to the Greens at last week’s by-election in Gorton and Denton.

But she will argue that “restoring order and control at our border is not a betrayal of Labour values, it is an embodiment of them”.

Under the plans, the current statutory legal duty guaranteeing support and accommodation to asylum seekers at risk of destitution will be replaced with a more conditional approach.

The Home Office says the changes, due to take effect in June, will limit accommodation and support to “those who genuinely need it”, although it is yet to set out in detail how this will work.

The legislation to be published by the Home Office on Thursday will echo the approach taken by Denmark.

Asylum seekers with the right to work – generally only granted after waiting for a decision for more than a year – could be denied further assistance under the plans, as it will be judged they will now come under the banner of being someone with the means to support themselves.

The Home Office says this would also include those who lodge an asylum claim after entering the country on a visa that gives them a right to employment.

Those with assets could also be required to contribute to the cost of their accommodation, with ministers previously suggesting that cars and e-bikes would be treated as assets.

It remains unclear how many people would be affected by this change, as the department does not disclose how many asylum seekers are able to work in the UK.

In a policy document last November, the Home Office said currently “criminality does not exclude an asylum seeker from receiving state support”.

The document says: “This is unacceptable, and we will sanction those who take advantage of our generosity. This will extend beyond those who break the law and include those who refuse to relocate to a different accommodation site and those who are disruptive in accommodation setting.”

Mahmood will use the speech to step up her attacks on the Greens, accusing the party of wanting to create “a world without borders” and calling for “the most expensive and expansive migration policies anywhere in the world”.

On its website, the Green Party says in government it would “treat all migrants as if they are citizens” and “dismantle the Home Office”.

A Green spokesperson said the home secretary was “deliberately misrepresenting Green Party Policy and reducing it to cheap soundbites”.

The Green Party said it recognised “the great contribution that migrants and refugees make to British society and we want to see policy that treats everyone with dignity rather than treating them harshly for political gain”.

Chris Philp MP, shadow home secretary, said Labour “should put foreign criminals on a plane home, not onto British streets”.

The Refugee Council, a charity, has warned that the plans could lead to an uptick in rough sleeping, shifting costs to local councils and the NHS.

Imran Hussain, its director of external affairs, said speeding up slow decision-making was a “far more effective” way to reduce costs.

Just over 107,003 people in the UK were receiving taxpayer-funded asylum support at the end of last year, including around 30,000 in hotels.

The government has pledged to phase out the use of hotels by 2029, and plans to move people to lower-cost large sites including former military bases.

Source: bbc.co.uk