In 2020, as he campaigned for the Labour leadership, Keir Starmer set out ten pledges to party members. Among them was a promise to “defend migrants’ rights” and to create an immigration system grounded in “compassion and dignity”. Fast-forward six years, and his government is instead making sweeping changes to UK immigration law that mark a sharp escalation of the ‘Hostile Environment’ policy he once promised to dismantle.
Since entering office in September last year, home secretary Shabana Mahmood MP has advanced a series of reforms aimed at “restoring control over the immigration system”, which target some of the UK’s most vulnerable people. These include reassessing refugee status every 30 months; removing the legal duty to provide asylum support; offering payments to refused families to leave the UK; and extending settlement routes from five to ten years, or up to 20 in some cases.
As researchers from the Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet), we are deeply concerned by these proposed reforms. Drawing on extensive evidence, we argue that the Home Office’s vision will lead to permanent insecurity, deepen destitution, and lock out a generation from full civic rights in the UK.
