Shabana Mahmood Will Tighten Asylum Handouts

Asylum seekers who perpetrate crimes or work illegally are to be chucked out of taxpayer-funded accommodation and lose their handouts.

The rule changes, first announced last November, mean only those with legitimate asylum claims who follow the rules will get support, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will say on Thursday.

The measures, coming into force in June, will remove support payments and accommodation to asylum seekers who work illegally or have been granted the right to work, or who can support themselves.

Hand-outs such as free hotel rooms will also be stripped from any migrants who violate the law.

The present statutory legal duty to provide asylum seekers with help and housing – first introduced in 2005, reflecting a European Union directive – will be replaced with a ‘conditional’ system.

It came as 204 migrants reached Britain on Tuesday by small boat across the Channel, followed by more arrivals on Wednesday, believed to number several hundred.

Separately, Ms Mahmood will affirm that immigrants who want to live here permanently need to demonstrate a greater level of English proficiency.

Current English tests at GCSE equivalent will be raised to an A-level equivalent for those applying for settlement in Britain.

The higher requirement was first announced by ministers last May and will come into force in March next year.

Later on, it may also be extended to other kinds of migration.

In the latest sign that Labour has been panicked by the Green Party’s popularity in the polls, Ms Mahmood will take a swipe at its leader, Zack Polanski.

She is expected to attack Mr Polanski’s ‘fairy tale of open borders’ in an address later on today.

The Home Secretary will directly criticise Mr Polanski for making a visit to a migrant support centre outside Calais last December when he helped refill water tanks and picked litter around the site.

He also said migrants should be allowed into the UK and given the right to work as soon as they arrive.

‘A party leader who seeks the highest office in the land should not be on the beaches of France helping migrants onto small boats, encouraging them to make a perilous crossing,’ Ms Mahmood will say.

‘Creating further incentives to come to this country illegally, increasing the already vast burden placed on taxpayers in this country, Polanski calls for the most expensive and expansive migration policies anywhere in the world.’

Ms Mahmood will also endeavour to head off criticism from the Left of the Labour Party, which would prefer migrants to be allowed into Britain through so-called ‘safe and legal routes’ which critics say would simply entice more arrivals.

All the people want to hear is, ‘stop the boats.’

We need to get Labour and Starmer out because he has absolutely no intention of stopping these small boats from entering our country. After all, if he did, he would have done it soon rather than later.

We talk about them breaking the law in our country, but by arriving illegally, they are already breaking the law.

They all need to be deported, and think about it – if they are turfed out of their nice hotels, won’t they just commit more crimes?

Starmer is a blithering fool, along with his cabinet, who are treating the UK people like fools. Stop the boats at source; nothing else will suffice. It’s what the British electorate now demands, and why is Starmer allowing them to qualify for benefits? They haven’t paid into the system, so essentially, they are getting money for doing absolutely nothing.