UK looks to Denmark for inspiration to restructure immigration system

The Home Secretary will announce a major shake-up of the immigration and asylum system later this month, the BBC has learned.

Shabana Mahmood will model some of her new measures on the Danish system, considered one of the strictest in Europe.

Officials are understood to have been reviewing Denmark’s stricter rules on family reunion and restricting most refugees to a temporary stay in the country.

Mahmood wants to reduce the incentives that attract people to the UK while making it easier to deport those who have no right to be in the country.

But some members of his party are against following the Danish route, and a left-wing Labor MP said it was too “harsh” and contained echoes of the far right.

At the Labor conference in September, Mahmood vowed to “do whatever it takes” to regain control of Britain’s borders.

He is impressed that Denmark has reduced the number of successful asylum applications to its lowest level in 40 years, with the exception of 2020, amid pandemic travel restrictions.

They told the BBC that last month they sent senior Home Office officials to Copenhagen to study what lessons could be applied to the UK.

In Denmark, protection is likely to be provided to refugees who have been personally attacked by a foreign regime.

But most people who have been granted asylum when fleeing conflict are now only allowed to stay in the country temporarily.

When the Danish government decrees that their country of origin is safe, they can be returned.

For those who have been in Denmark for a longer period, the time needed to acquire settlement rights has been extended and conditions have been added, such as having full-time employment.

Denmark’s stricter rules on family gatherings have also attracted the interest of UK Home Office officials.

If you are a refugee who has been granted residence rights in Denmark, both you and your partner who is applying to join you in the country must be 24 years old or older.

The Danish government says this is to protect against forced marriages.

In Denmark, the partner must not have applied for benefits for three years and must also provide a financial guarantee, and both partners must pass a Danish language exam.

Refugees living in housing estates designated as “parallel societies” (i.e. where more than 50% of residents come from what the Danish government considers “non-Western” origins) will not be eligible for family reunification at all.

In September, the UK Home Office suspended new applications under the refugee family reunification scheme, pending new rules being drawn up.

The pre-September scheme allowed spouses, partners and dependents under 18 to come to the UK without meeting income and English language tests applied to other migrants.

Mahmood is unlikely to go as far as Denmark when announcing the UK’s replacement rules for family gatherings, but it seems likely that he will take steps along a more restrictive route.

Last week, the BBC also traveled to Denmark to find out how its immigration system works.

Mahmood’s counterpart, Rasmus Stoklund, Denmark’s Immigration and Integration Minister, is a member of Labour’s sister party, the Social Democrats.

He said: “We have tightened our laws in many ways.

“We are returning more people home. We have made family reunification in Denmark quite difficult.

“You will be expelled much more easily if you commit crimes. And we have created different programs to help people return home voluntarily.”

There is no indication that the UK government will follow the Danish example of offering substantial sums – up to the equivalent of £24,000 – for asylum seekers to return to their home country, including a contribution to the cost of their children’s education.

But some of what Stoklund described is The BBC understands it is being closely examined at the Home Office.

According to Stoklund, stricter immigration and integration aims to protect the social nature of Denmark, which is a smaller country with a smaller population than the United Kingdom.

“We expect people who come here to participate and contribute positively and if they don’t, they’re not welcome,” he said.

In Denmark – as in the United Kingdom – there is a lively political debate about whether the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) makes it difficult to deport foreign criminals.

Like the UK government, Stoklund does not want to abandon the ECtHR but believes changes can be made.

The Danish government has launched a review into how this could be done and Stoklund agreed he could make common cause with his British counterparts.

“I think it’s very positive every time I hear that other countries have the same concerns and are as frustrated as many of us in Denmark.”

Mahmood is said to be interested in meeting Stoklund as soon as possible.

For Labor ministers, there are political and practical lessons to be learned from Denmark.

In 2015, the country had a troubled center-left government and a right-wing populist party advancing in the polls, while immigration increasingly worried voters.

Today there are parallels with the United Kingdom, as Reform Britain maintains its lead in the polls over the Labor Party.

Downing Street is interested in how a center-left party managed to defeat the Danish People’s Party, a former ally of Nigel Farage’s UKIP in the European Parliament, to return to power.

Ida Auken, environment spokeswoman for the Social Democrats, said taking a tougher stance on immigration meant there was room to pursue progressive policies in other areas.

“For us, it was a license to operate in the things we want to do,” he said..

“We want to have an educated workforce that has social security and we want to make a green transition.

“And we would never have been able to do this unless we had those strict immigration policies.”

Some senior UK ministers are believed to find that argument persuasive.

Critics would point out that while there are similarities with the United Kingdom, The situation in Denmark is different.

The country does not face the arrival of small boats from the North Sea or the Baltic.

Danish is not as widely spoken as English, so the language requirements are likely to deter some potential refugees.

And while the vast majority of Social Democrat MPs were in favor of tougher policies, there is much more caution among some Labor MPs.

Unofficially, some traditional Labor MPs say they would oppose the transplant of Danish policies to the UK.

On the left of the party, former party leader Clive Lewis strongly opposed the adoption of the Danish system in an effort to outflank Reform UK.

“The Danish Social Democrats have taken what I would call a tough approach to immigration,” he said.

“They have adopted many of the talking points of what we would call the far right.

“The Labor Party needs to win back some reformist voters, but it can’t be done at the cost of losing progressive votes.”

Jo White, who leads a group of 50 Labor MPs in “Red Wall” seats in the Midlands and northern England, would like to see ministers move further in the Danish direction.

He argued that Labor would pay a high political price if it did not adopt policies such as requiring some asylum seekers to contribute to the cost of their stay.

“The consequences are that we will go to a general election in which Reform will be the biggest rival in the majority of Labor seats… and we will be annihilated.”

Immigration: The Danish Way will air on BBC Radio 4 at 13:30 GMT on Sunday 9 November and will be available on BBC Sounds.