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Refugees in Britain will no longer be entitled to apply for permanent residency after five years or gain an automatic right to family reunification, as Sir Keir Starmer hardens his immigration policy to fend off Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Ahead of a meeting of the European Political Community in Copenhagen, the prime minister will announce on Thursday that refugees will face a longer route to permanent residency in the UK and will no longer automatically be permitted to bring their families to join them.
“I believe that if you want to come to the UK, you should contribute to our society,” Starmer said, adding that “settlement must be earned by contributing to our country, not by paying a people smuggler to cross the Channel in a boat”.
“The UK will continue to play its role in welcoming genuine refugees fleeing persecution,” the prime minister said. “But we must also address the pull factors driving dangerous and illegal small boats crossings.”
Officials said the new “core protection” provided to refugees would not include family reunification, a right that has been given to asylum seekers in Britain since 2000.
Starmer’s announcement comes as the Labour government seeks to toughen its stance on immigration, which has soared up the political agenda, while creating a dividing line between its policies and pledges made by Farage’s rightwing populist party.
Reform has surged ahead of Labour in opinion polls, and has pledged to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and scrap the main route for migrants to settle permanently in the UK, known as indefinite leave to remain.
Starmer has vowed to stay in the ECHR, but last week he announced the rollout of digital ID for all workers in the UK by the end of this parliament as a way of reducing illegal working by foreigners and curbing illegal migration.
But the policy has already privately come under fire from senior members of his cabinet, amid concerns the scheme is half-baked and will go no further than existing initiatives to tackle irregular migration.
“The scheme they’ve announced is no different to the e-visa scheme we already have,” one cabinet minister said, referring to the current system used by immigration enforcement to prove they have the right to work.
Starmer’s team “wanted to make a big announcement so they did it before any of the details were actually ironed out,” the minister added, noting that there was only a “50/50” chance that any scheme would be live by the end of this parliament.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced at Labour party conference this week that migrants to the UK will have to prove they are net contributors to society, have never claimed benefits and have a clean criminal record in order to qualify for permanent residency.
Her new policy built on a previous government announcement of a rise from five to 10 years in the default period that migrants would need to be in Britain before being able to apply for indefinite leave to remain.
But ministers clarified this week that the 10-year period could be shortened if foreigners could prove they were making a positive contribution to society, including by paying national insurance and volunteering in the community.
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