The UK will base its new asylum rules on the strict Danish model

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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is preparing to overhaul Britain’s asylum system based on Denmark’s strict rules to make it harder for refugees to settle in the country, a person briefed on the plans said.

The proposals will limit the rights of people seeking asylum or refugee status to a greater extent than planned announced in May Yvette Cooper, who was Home Secretary until the September changes in the government.

Mahmood is expected to base his proposals on the findings of officials who visited Copenhagen last month to examine the effectiveness of measures introduced under Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen in 2021.

The plans are the latest effort by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor government to regain the initiative on immigration, which faces a growing right-wing challenge from Reform UK. The government’s credibility has been damaged by the constant influx of so-called big numbers migrants on small boats from France.

The Home Office confirmed on October 22 that the number of illegal arrivals of small boats into the UK in 2025 had already exceeded 36,816 for the whole of 2024, although this was lower than the more than 45,000 recorded in 2022.

A person briefed on the plans said on Saturday: “Since taking office, the Home Secretary has closely examined the policies implemented in Denmark and is considering introducing a range of policies in the UK modeled on their success.”

Denmark has made it more difficult for family members of people who have been granted refugee status to join. Most people who come to Denmark to escape dangers such as civil wars are only granted a temporary residence permit until the threat subsides.

A person briefed on the proposal said Denmark’s tighter rules had pushed the number of asylum applications in the country to its lowest level in 40 years.

According to EU statistics, in the 18 months to June 2025, the most common countries of origin for asylum seekers were Venezuela, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Syria. Asylum is usually granted to people who can demonstrate a well-founded fear of danger or persecution at home.

According to the Home Office, in the year ending June 2025, 48 per cent of asylum seekers in the UK were given some form of protection following an initial assessment. Rejectees also have a high success rate on appeal. In the year ending March 2023 – the latest year for which statistics are available – 53 percent of asylum applications were successful.

Tensions over illegal migration to Europe have increased support for populist parties, and many governments have tightened restrictions.

Danish officials revoked the residence permits of some Syrian refugees back in 2021 – well before the country’s civil war ended – because they deemed their home country safe again.

A person briefed on the proposals said Mahmood hoped to meet his Danish counterpart soon and added: “The Home Secretary is expected to make major changes to the asylum system in the coming weeks to remove incentives to attract people to the UK and increase the expulsion of illegal migrants.”

Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future advisory team, asked on Saturday whether the proposals developed for Denmark would work in the British context.

He said: “We are different societies in our experiences of immigration, and integration is different in increasingly diverse democratic societies.”