UK Overhauls Asylum System As Starmer Seeks To Win Back Voters
But the crackdown comes at a sensitive time, with Starmer grappling to keep control of his party after missteps and U-turns that even allies said have put his position at risk.
The UK will curb asylum-seekers’ right to financial help and make it harder for them to settle permanently, as the government tries to stem the loss of voters increasingly worried about immigration.
Refugees will no longer have a statutory right to housing and state support, and their immigration status will be reviewed every 30 months under new plans to be set out by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Monday. People arriving without permits will have to also wait 20 years before they can apply for permanent settlement, up from five years currently.
It’s the Labour government’s latest attempt to regain control of the political narrative around immigration, which polls show is driving voters to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party. Almost 40,000 people have arrived in small boats so far this year, putting arrivals on track for the highest annual total since 2022 and undermining Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s pledge to control the border.
“My aim is to deal with illegal migration, to stop this being an issue that is dividing our country,” Mahmood told Sky News on Sunday. “We need to act if we are to retain public consent for having an asylum system at all.”
But the crackdown comes at a sensitive time, with Starmer grappling to keep control of his party after missteps and U-turns that even allies said have put his position at risk. A tougher asylum system — and more strident rhetoric on immigration more generally — is a tough sell on the left of the Labour Party at a time Starmer needs to shore up support.
In her broadcast round, Mahmood appeared to anticipate the likely attack from the left flank, which typically argues that ministers are playing into Farage’s hands by talking so much about immigration.
The UK received 111,000 asylum applications in the 12 months to June 2025 — a record high and 14% more than a year earlier. The Home Office has deported or removed nearly 50,000 immigrants in the country illegally since Labour came to power in July 2024, a 23% increase on the 16 months prior.
Under the new plans, the government will also make it easier to send refugees back when their home countries are safe, the Home Office said in a statement.
“I really reject this idea that dealing with this problem is somehow engaging in far-right talking points,” Mahmood told the BBC. The government will also announce changes on legal migration later this week, she said.
Mahmood’s appointment was widely seen as a sign Labour was toughening its stance on immigration. She described the brief on Sunday as a “moral mission,” telling the BBC that “illegal migration is tearing our country apart.”
Her performance in the role has seen her emerge as a likely front-runner in the event of a leadership change, as Starmer battles crises on multiple fronts ahead of a budget this month that could define his tenure.
The prime minister has emerged weaker in recent days following anonymous briefings against a cabinet minister accused of plotting to oust him. Then on Friday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves ditched the centerpiece of her revenue-raising plans, triggering a selloff on bond markets.
Mahmood said Sunday that Starmer shouldn’t consider standing aside, after he led Labour to power following more than a decade in opposition. She also criticized what she described as “Westminster bubble tittle-tattle.”
“If people have things to say, they should have the courage of their convictions and say so publicly,” she told Sky News.
