Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to announce a shakeup of Britain’s immigration rules with reforms modelled on the Danish system, ITV News understands.
Mahmood dispatched officials to the country last month to study its border control and asylum policies, which are seen as some of the toughest in Europe.
Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunions and restricting some refugees to a temporary stay are among the policies being looked at.
A major shakeup is expected in the coming weeks, ITV News understands.
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Denmark’s approach to migration and integration policies reduced the number of asylum applications to the lowest number in 40 years in 2024 and the country successfully removed 95% of rejected asylum seekers.
It comes after a difficult few months for the government, which saw rising numbers of small boat crossings in the Channel and a migrant, who was deported under the UK’s returns deal with France, re-enter the country.
Mahmood wants deterrents in place to stop people seeking to enter Britain via unauthorised routes, while making it easier to remove those who are found to have no right to stay in the UK.
Some 648 people crossed the Channel to Britain in nine boats on Friday, according to Home Office figures published on Saturday, bringing the total for the year so far to 38,223.
Labour MPs are split on the move. Some in so-called red wall seats, which are seen as vulnerable to challenge from Reform UK, want ministers to go further towards the Danish system.
Stoke-on-Trent Central Labour MP Gareth Snell said it was “worth looking at what best practice we can find from our sister parties around the world where they have managed to find practical solutions” to managing immigration speaking to the BBC on Saturday.
Others believe the policies will estrange progressive voters and push the party too far away from its base.
Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome, who is a member of the party’s Socialist Campaign Group caucus, urged against emulating the Danish model, suggesting it was “far-right”.
“I think these are policies of the far-right. I don’t think anyone wants to see a Labour government flirting with them,” she said.
The shakeup comes after Mahmood conceded on Thursday that the Home Office is “not yet fit for purpose” and has been “set up for failure”, following the release of a “damning” report into the government department.
The review was carried out while the Conservative government was in power, and had been kept secret for more than two years before it was obtained by The Times following a legal challenge.
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