Mahmood seeks Canada-style asylum sponsorship route into UK

The Home Office has vowed to introduce new “capped safe and legal” routes for asylum seekers to arrive in the UK later this year.

The department said it would allow organisations like universities, community groups and businesses to sponsor refugees who applied to come to the UK, a model based on Canada’s asylum system.

Alongside the new asylum route, the government said it would press ahead with changes to how human rights and modern slavery laws are applied to asylum applications, which the government says will root out “vexatious” claims.

In response, the Conservatives said no extra people should be let into the country until illegal immigration was stopped.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the new system would protect “genuine refugees” while “closing loopholes that have been too often abused”.

She said: “Britain has always offered sanctuary to those  fleeing war and persecution.

“But this system only survives if the public trusts that it is fair,  controlled, and not open to abuse.”

The announcement comes as the home secretary prepares to put an immigration bill before the Commons, elements of which could be opposed by some Labour MPs.

The UK already has a relatively small number of refugees who are sponsored in communities under the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) but the Home Office said the “vast majority” of refugees were supported by local councils.

The government has been under pressure to reduce the number of people being housed in hotels at the taxpayers’ expense, while illegal small boat arrivals have also undermined public confidence in the asylum system.

The new routes would allow a wider number of organisations to support those who arrive, including “trusted universities”.

A refugee work route is expected to open next year, allowing employers to sponsor refugees, the Home Office said.

Applications for the university route will open later this year, with the first arrivals due to take place in 2027.

The government did not say how many people would be allowed to arrive under the new routes, but said it would be capped and start from a low base – and would “operate at a much higher capacity” than UKRS once it is fully established.

It also said the Home Office would control which organisations could sponsor an asylum seeker, and that all applicants would be subject to strict checks.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said that until illegal migration was at zero, “we shouldn’t be shipping any extra people in at all on ‘humanitarian grounds'”.

He said the measures “won’t stop the boats” and accused Labour of supporting “open borders”.

At the same time as opening up new routes to the UK for asylum seekers, the Home Office said it would clamp down on bogus claims.

The government had already confirmed it would reform how the right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights is applied, which critics have said was being unfairly used to appeal against rejected asylum applications.

The Home Office is also making changes to how the Modern Slavery Act is applied, including removing the right to protection for any foreign national who has received a custodial sentence, or where there is evidence documents have been forged.

This latest announcement on UK asylum policy came as the home secretary clashed with her junior minister Mike Tapp.

He used a Times article to argue foreign care workers should be exempt from the home secretary’s plans to change visa rules for migrants already living in the UK in the upcoming immigration bill.

Mahmood requested that Tapp be sacked but was rebuffed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.