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Shabana Mahmood is to announce changes to the UK’s immigration rules modelled on the Danish system, largely seen as among the most stringent in Europe, the Guardian understands.
Last month, the home secretary dispatched officials to Denmark to study its border control and asylum policies. The country’s tighter rules on family reunions and restricting some refugees to a temporary stay are among the policies being looked at.
Mahmood will announce the changes later this month, according to the BBC, which first reported the plans.
The proposals have drawn scorn from some Labour MPs, particularly from those on the left of the party, who said it was a “dangerous path” to take, although others want the government to go further.
In Denmark, refugees who have been personally targeted by a foreign regime are more likely to be given protection, while those fleeing conflicts are usually only allowed to remain in the country on a temporary basis. Denmark itself decides what is a safe country.
In 2022, the Danish government notified about 1,200 refugees from Damascus in Syria that their residency permits would not be renewed because, breaking with the UN and EU, it judged the region to be safe for refugees to return.
UK Home Office officials have also been drawn to Denmark’s tighter rules for family reunions. When a refugee granted residency rights wants their partner to join them, there are numerous thresholds that must be met. Both people must be age 24 and above, the partner in Denmark must not have claimed benefits for three years and also has to put up a financial guarantee. Both partners must also pass a Danish language test.
Denmark has also barred those who live in housing estates designated as “parallel societies” by the government – where more than 50% of residents are from what it considers to be “non-western” backgrounds – from being granted family reunion.
In 2021, Denmark passed a law enabling it to process asylum seekers outside Europe, which drew anger from human rights advocates, the UN and European Commission.
Labour MP Clive Lewis was deeply critical of the British government’s plans to adopt the Danish system in an effort to outflank Reform UK.
“Denmark’s Social Democrats have gone down what I would call a hardcore approach to immigration,” he said. “They’ve adopted many of the talking points of what we would call the far right.
“Labour does need to win back some Reform-leaning voters but you can’t do that at the cost of losing progressive votes.”
Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East and a member of Labour’s Socialist Campaign Group, said it would be a “dangerous path” to take and that some of the Danish policies, especially those around “parallel societies”, are “undeniably racist”.
“I think this is a dead end – morally, politically and electorally,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Some Labour MPs from the centre of the party told the BBC off the record that they would oppose the implementation of Danish immigration policies in the UK.
However, Jo White, who leads a group of Labour MPs in “red wall” seats in the Midlands and north of England, said she would like to see the government go further in the Danish direction.
“The consequences are that we go into a general election where Reform will be the biggest challenger in most Labour seats … and we will be annihilated,” she said.
Mahmood, who was appointed as home secretary in September, told the Labour conference that “contribution to this country is a condition”, while announcing a number of new conditions that must be met by people seeking asylum, including plans to increase the period from when indefinite leave to remain is usually granted, from five years to 10 years.
She has come under fire from charities who accused her of “scapegoating” migrants. After her conference speech, more than 100 charities including Refugee Action, Save the Children and Oxfam called on Mahmood to find solutions to problems with housing, the climate crisis and the NHS, and to end the use of “performative policies” that cause harm.
