Mahmood to set out curbs to asylum seeker support

Plans to curb taxpayer support for asylum seekers are set to be unveiled by the home secretary, as she seeks to make the "Labour case" for restricting assistance.

In a speech, Shabana Mahmood will argue the move is required to restore "trust" to the asylum system.

The Home Office says the changes, due to take effect in June, will restrict accommodation and support payments to "those who genuinely need it".

Ministers say the new rules will also remove assistance from asylum seekers who work illegally or break the law.

On Thursday, the Home Office will publish a law to remove the current legal duty to guarantee support to those awaiting an asylum decision at risk of destitution.

Instead, the department plans to reserve support "only for those who need it", although it is yet to set out in detail how this will be decided.

It says asylum seekers with assets could be required to contribute to the cost of their accommodation, echoing the approach taken in Denmark. Ministers have previously suggested cars and e-bikes could be targeted.

Asylum seekers with the right to work - generally only granted after waiting for a decision for more than a year - could also be denied assistance under the plans.

The Home Office says this would also include those who lodge an asylum claim after entering the country on a visa that gives them a right to employment.

However, it remains unclear how many people would be affected by this change, as the department does not disclose how many asylum seekers can work in the UK.

The Refugee Council, a charity, has warned that the plans could lead to an uptick in rough sleeping, shifting costs to local councils and the NHS.

Imran Hussain, its director of external affairs, said speeding up slow decision-making was a "far more effective" way to reduce costs.

Just over 107,003 people in the UK were receiving taxpayer-funded asylum support at the end of last year, including around 30,000 in hotels.

The government has pledged to phase out the use of hotels by 2029, and plans to move people to lower-cost large sites including former military bases.

Mahmood has unveiled several measures to toughen up the migration system ahead of her speech on Thursday, including making refugee status temporary and plans to stop issuing study visas to four countries.

In a pitch to those in her party unsure of her approach, she is expected to say that her changes would make the asylum system "compassionate but controlled".

Some left-wing Labour MPs are calling for the government to change its approach on migration in the wake of the party's defeat to the Greens at last week's by-election in Gorton and Denton.

But she will argue that "restoring order and control at our border is not a betrayal of Labour values, it is an embodiment of them".