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People granted asylum in the UK will have to wait 20 years before they can apply to settle permanently. The home secretary confirmed the proposed change to the BBC. The full plans are due to be announced on Monday.
The current period is 5 years after which refugees typically receive indefinite leave to remain. Oshimano Mammud said the change would end a golden ticket for asylum seekers. Our political correspondent Ian Watson has more.
More than 200 people crossed the channel in small boats on Friday. 39,000 have made the journey so far this year. The home secretary has described this as a crisis at our borders and that she'll do whatever it takes to stop it. Jabana Mammud will set out her plans to the Commons tomorrow and what the Home Office says will be the biggest shift in policy towards refugees since the Second World War. The hope is it will stop some potential asylum seekers from coming here.
Currently, successful asylum seekers whose claims are accepted are given refugee status. They're allowed to stay in the UK initially for 5 years. Then they can apply for permanent residence. But Shabban Mammud will change this. The initial period of protection will be cut in half to 2 and 1/2 years and it will then take 20 years to gain permanent residence.
But there's a further change. Many refugees won't be here for 20 years because as soon as their home country is considered safe, the home secretary says they'll be sent back. This is strongly supported by some in their party who face an electoral threat from reform.
"This is very very welcome news. uh when uh asylum seekers are given the right to to remain in this country, they should know from the outset that there's an expectation that they will return to their country of origin at the point that it's safe to go to do so."
And the home secretary is consulting on further changes, including withdrawing accommodation and financial allowances from asylum seekers found to be working illegally or engaging in criminal activity. But Lib Dem says she should be putting more effort into clearing the asylum backlog so that those whose claims are rejected can be removed more quickly.
Both Reform UK and the Conservatives are urging the Home Secretary to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which they say hampers deportations, though the Conservative leader Kelly Bnook said she was willing to work with Labor if the government proved it was serious in reducing the number of asylum seekers in the UK. Some in Shabban Mood's own party think she's going too far and scaring off leftwing voters, but she seems determined to signal to those who are worried about immigration that she's listening. Ian Watson, BBC News.
"So, the uh home secretary has been doing the rounds on our political programs and our political correspondent Billy Kembber has been across uh the Lord Kunber program. What did what new material did the shadow uh the home secretary give? Arguably it's this fact that they will asylum seekers will have to be here for 20 years before they get any kind of a permanent settlement."
"Yes. A huge shakeup to the asylum system. The uh home officers called it the biggest shakeup since the second world war. And Shabbanamood this morning on Sunday with Laura Kunberg explaining some of the details of that scheme. The biggest one as you say an increase in the length of time that someone applying for asylum and receiving asylum in this country will have to live here before they can apply for permanent settlement. That will go up to potentially 20 years from the 5 years uh under the current system. And Shabbana Mammud was asked about the specifics of that and about an attendant change which is that if someone has come from a country that was deemed unsafe that is then deemed safe during that 20-year period, they would then be returned home."
"It is a an issue that is dividing uh our country and I see this polarization all over the country including in my own uh constituency. We have a system that is out of control. It's unfair and is putting huge pressure on communities."
"A lot of uh political pressure around these policies, a very hot button issue for the government, a very important issue in the polls for a lot of voters on immigration and one that successive governments have tried and uh and struggled to to get a grip on. It's not just uh outside of the Labour party. It's within the Labour Party too that Shabban Mammud is is going to come under pressure on this. Already criticism from the left of the party that this is adopting the talking points of the populist right. That's something that she rejected this morning when speaking to uh to Laura Coonsburg and criticism too from the right from the Reform UK and from the Tories that this doesn't go far enough. The shadow home secretary, the Conservative MP Chris Phelp was also on the show. He was asked whether he agreed with these changes. He said he did agree with the principle of making someone who has received refugee status receive that on a temporary basis rather than a permanent one. But these changes in his view didn't go far enough."
"I've been to those camps last August just a couple of months ago. I've spoken to migrants there and they think they can come here and work illegally. They think their chances of getting removed are virtually zero. And you know what? They're right. Because under this Labor government, 95% of people who've crossed the channel have been allowed to stay. only 5% have been removed."
"So no doubt some heated political debate ahead on on this issue both within the Labour Party and across the chamber in the Commons. We'll see more details of these changes when Shabban Mammud speaks in the Commons tomorrow. We're expected to get some further details. She's indicated too on changes the government wants to make to the uh article 8 right to family life which they view has been unduly blocking up cases in in the courts. and we shall see whether they can get legislation through to to make these changes. But Shabbanamood will hope that voters now feel that Labor are getting a grip of this issue."
"And that's of course article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which is a big talking point in this country at the moment. Billy, as always, thank you so much for turning that around so quickly. Billy Kembber there, our political correspondent."