Britain to Remove State Support for Law-Breaking Asylum Seekers

Britain plans to strip accommodation and financial support from asylum seekers who work illegally, break the law or can support themselves, under measures it said on Wednesday would reduce incentives for people to enter the country unlawfully.



The changes mark the latest attempt by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government to tighten asylum policy as it comes under pressure in opinion polls from Nigel Farage's anti-immigration populist party Reform UK.



The new measures by interior minister Shabana Mahmood draw on Denmark's approach and form part of a wider overhaul that includes closing ​asylum hotels, tightening removals and creating a one-stop appeals system.



"Asylum support and accommodation will now become conditional – reserved only for those who play by our rules," Mahmood said in a statement, ahead of a speech she is due to give on Thursday.



The measures come a day after Britain imposed an "emergency brake" on some study and work visas to curb what it described as a surge in asylum claims from people entering through legal routes.