Asylum seekers who commit crimes or lie about their status will lose their right to benefits and free accommodation under plans to be put to Parliament by Shabana Mahmood next week.
The Home Secretary will seek parliamentary approval for new powers to bar migrants from receiving state support if they break the law or fail to comply with rules set by the Home Office, even if it leaves them “destitute”.
The move will break with EU law, which until Brexit required the UK to provide support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. It will also enable the Home Office to strip asylum seekers of support if they have the financial means to pay for their own accommodation and living costs.
Downing Street confirmed on Thursday that the Home Office and watchdogs were investigating allegations that migrants have pretended to be gay or victims of domestic abuse in order to bolster their asylum claims to remain in the UK.
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A Government spokesman said the Home Office and Immigration Advice Authority would hold any lawyers, advisers or migrants involved in “shameful and completely unacceptable” abuse of the asylum system to account.
The statutory instruments to be laid before Parliament next week will revoke a requirement introduced in 2005 to implement EU law on asylum support.
It will be replaced with a discretionary power for the Home Secretary to deny support to migrants who have the right to work after a year of waiting for asylum and could therefore support themselves. It will also cover migrants who enter the country on a work or student visa with permission to work before claiming asylum.
Anyone who has not complied with the conditions imposed by the Home Office – including by failing to abide by a removal order or working illegally – will also see their support removed.
Any asylum seeker who breaks the law or refuses to relocate to cheaper accommodation will also lose their support. The move brings the UK into line with approaches taken by other European countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands and France.
Responding to the BBC investigation that reported migrants making false claims to be gay or victims of domestic abuse, Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: “Any attempt to misuse protections designed to protect genuine victims from the devastation of domestic abuse is shameful and completely unacceptable.
“The Home Secretary has been clear that those trying to defraud the British people to remain in the UK will have their application refused and find themselves on a one-way flight out of Britain.
“Where unethical and illegal practices are identified and evidence exists, legal practitioners will be referred to the police through the relevant regulatory body.”
The BBC investigation exposed law firms and advisers charging thousands of pounds to help asylum seekers pretend to be gay so they can make a successful claim to stay in the UK.
Ms Mahmood said sham lawyers would “face the full force of the law”, adding: “Anyone abusing protections for people fleeing persecution over gender or sexual orientation is beyond contempt.”
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Deputy Editor & UK News
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