Jennifer McKiernanPolitical reporter
Illegal migration is ‘dividing our country’ says Mahmood
Illegal migration is “tearing the country apart”, the home secretary has said, as she prepares to unveil major plans to overhaul asylum policy.
New measures set to be announced by Shabana Mahmood on Monday will include people granted asylum needing to wait 20 years before they can apply to settle permanently.
The plans will also see those granted asylum have their refugee status regularly reviewed and those whose home countries are then deemed safe told to return.
Mahmood told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme she saw tackling illegal migration as a “moral mission”.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the Conservatives would deport illegal migrants “within a week”, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for asylum seekers to have the right to work.
The changes are aimed at making the UK a less attractive destination for illegal migrants, leading to reduced small boat crossings and asylum claims.
Mahmood is also to announce the UK will stop granting visas to people from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo if their governments do not rapidly improve co-operation on removals.
A Home Office source said the countries were being targeted “for their unacceptably low co-operation and obstructive returns processes”.
As first reported in the Times the threat of the visa ban for certain countries comes after thousands of illegal migrants and criminals from the three nations were said to be in the UK.
Many specific details and practicalities of the sweeping changes to asylum policy are yet to be made clear, and will be set out by Mahmood on Monday.
The home secretary added her plans also aimed to address “unfair” conditions that she said gave some asylum seekers better provisions than UK citizens.
She said: “I know illegal migration is causing huge divides here in our own country, and I do believe we need to act if we are to retain public consent for having an asylum system at all.”
Currently refugee status lasts for five years, after which people can apply for indefinite leave to remain or settled status. Mahmood wants to lengthen this to 20 years.
The new measures will see refugee statuses reviewed every two-and-a-half years.
Mahmood told the BBC that asylum seekers who use “safe and legal routes”, find work and contribute to society may be able to apply to settle permanently earlier, though did not give specific details.
The policy has been inspired by Denmark, where a government led by the centre-left Social Democrats has presided over one of the toughest asylum and immigration systems in Europe.
In Denmark, refugees are given temporary residence permits, typically of two years, and in effect have to re-apply for asylum when they expire.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasm
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