Mahmood introduces radical reforms to asylum system including clampdown on modern slavery claims

Shabana Mahmood has unveiled further radical reforms to the asylum system, including clamping down on migrants’ ability to stay in the UK based on family ties and restricting modern slavery claims.

The home secretary’s legislation, which was introduced to parliament on Tuesday, includes a restriction to the application of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which safeguards the right to private and family life and is used by some migrants to halt their deportation.

The bill will tighten the application of Article 8 by defining family as an immediate family member, such as a parent, spouse or child under 18, except in exceptional circumstances. Foreign nationals will also be required to live with their spouse, partner, or child if they are claiming they need to stay in the UK to be with them.

If they do not live with their child, visa overstayers and others fighting their deportation will need to show a genuine parental relationship. When a foreign national is in the UK without leave to remain, or they are in breach of their visa conditions, then “no weight” should be given to any private life, or family, that person may have built in Britain, the legislation says.

The Home Office pointed to an example of a domestic abuser from Poland, with a string of violent convictions, being allowed to stay in the UK on the basis of his relationship with his nephew as abuse of the system.

Government analysis estimates that the lifetime cost of each migrant granted UK visas due to an Article 8 claim is £141,000.

Officials predict that around 55 per cent of migrants who have their ECHR claims refused will not leave the UK. They estimate that the number of initial refusals of Article 8 claims will increase by 14,000 per year after the changes.

Data shows that in 2025 the top nationalities granted visa extensions based on their family and private life were Nigerian (11,961 grants), Indian (10,389 grants) and Pakistani (9,788). In a separate sample of nearly 3,000 Article 8 applications, the Home Office found that 39 per cent of applicants had arrived in the UK illegally, 38 per cent had overstayed a visa, and 67 per cent had a British child or a child who had lived in Britain for seven years.

Source: (The Independent)