Shabana Mahmood's attack on refugees is cruel and self-defeating

Another week, another raft of cruel and counter-productive immigration policies.

This time, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is announcing what she claims are the most radical changes to the asylum system ever attempted. As usual, the proposals are cruel and draconian, will make people’s lives worse, will fail to achieve their goal and have been designed without consultation with refugees or charities such as ours who work with the people directly affected.

The lack of consultation surely contributes to Home Secretaries, whichever party is in government, repeating the same mistakes. Policies are designed that make people’s lives worse but fail to address the realities that see refugees move in the first place and that see a tiny minority selecting the UK as their preferred country of sanctuary.

Mahmood’s plans make clear that she does not welcome refugees and they should not even bother attempting to build a life here as they will be deported at some point in the future. Whilst currently refugees are given a 5-year visa and qualify for indefinite leave on completion, Mahmood will instead give them 2.5 year visas that they will need to repeatedly renew. After 20 years, they may qualify for indefinite leave, and throughout this period the government will constantly be reviewing whether it is safe to deport them.

The Refugee Council estimates this additional work processing and reviewing constant visa renewal applications will cost the government £872 million. There is also already precedent for what a disastrous plan this is.

In 2022, then Home Secretary Priti Patel increased the length of time some refugees had to wait before securing indefinite leave from 5 to 10 years. The following year, the Conservatives quietly scrapped this. As you could probably guess, this was not because they realised the plans were cruel and hindering refugees’ efforts to establish themselves in their new home. It was because it created so much extra work for the government. If Shabana Mahmood doesn’t know this already, it’s embarrassing. If she does know this and is pressing ahead anyway, then her primary goal is to be cruel rather than run an efficient Home Office.

Renewable 30-month visas are already issued to people in the UK on family visas. After renewing visas 4 times and completing a 10-year qualifying period, these people can apply for indefinite leave. Their visa renewal applications often just repeat the same information, such as that they were and are a parent of a British child. The government though currently takes a year to process these most straightforward of applications. Quite simply, there is more work than they can cope with and the last thing they need is another group of people renewing visas every 30 months.

This constant state of flux and uncertainty undermines peoples’ ability to settle in the UK too. Employers are often reluctant to hire people on short-term visas. Landlords may not rent to people whose status is not permanent.

Yet Mahmood and politicians across the spectrum bemoan refugees apparently not integrating into society. When you make life as difficult as possible for people to function on a basic level, persistently remind them they are unwelcome and now expressly make clear that their stay here is temporary only, can you really expect them to establish themselves?

These latest measures follow on from the government’s suspension of refugee family reunion in September. For refugees who have fled persecution and war, knowing their loved ones remain stranded overseas inevitably hinders their ability to settle into their new environment and many say that they cannot even begin doing so until reunited with their family. Yvette Cooper, Mahmood’s predecessor, recognised this when in opposition.

Crucially though, will any of these policies, cruel as they are, stop people from Sudan, Eritrea, Gaza and Afghanistan both needing protection and seeking to come to the UK? No, they will not.

Despite Mahmood’s claims about refugees getting a “golden ticket” or that the UK is a “soft touch”, no evidence exists showing that refugees choose where to seek protection based on that country’s asylum policies. What the government’s own evidence does show though is that refugees choose to come to the UK because of pre-existing ties, be that family or diaspora communities.

With no safe routes to seek sanctuary, refugees have to take dangerous journeys. However cruel and unpleasant you make the UK appear, it will still be safer than indefinite forced military conscription, war or persecution based on your religion, race, gender or sexuality.
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Until the UK government – be it Labour, Conservative or even Reform – acknowledges that fact it is impossible to have a proper debate about our asylum system. In the meantime, this Labour government have to decide whether they want to be supported by people like Tommy Robinson, who seemed overjoyed at Mahmood’s announcements, or if they want the country to be a warm and welcoming place for people no matter their race, religion or nationality.