Yvette Cooper announces major asylum shake up in attempt to thwart Reform

Yvette Cooper will announce new plans to tighten rules for asylum seekers and their families today, in an effort to steal Reform UK’s momentum in the polls. The Home Secretary will take to the Commons to announce new strict criteria for family members of those seeking refuge in Britain, as part of a wider overhaul of the “broken” system.

She will also take aim at Reform UK, warning that fixing the small boat crisis will be a “complex challenge” that requires “workable solutions, not fantasy promises which can’t be delivered.” Current asylum laws allow those in Britain to bring their spouses and children to the country once grants refugee status. Critics of the current system say this is now being exploited, with over 20,000 people coming to the country on those grounds in the year to June 2025 - a 30% increase on the previous year.

Officials argue Britain now has a much more lenient threshold for qualifying family members than other comparable countries, leading to the large numbers.

The home secretary will tell MPs: “Our action to strengthen border security, increase returns and overhaul the broken asylum system are putting much stronger foundations in place so we can fix the chaos we inherited and end costly asylum hotels.

“That means ensuring we have the powers we need to pursue the criminal smuggling gangs profiting from small boat crossings that other parties have voted against, but also new firm rules in place to manage the asylum system so we can close hotels.”

The BBC reports that the shake-up will include much tougher English language requirements, as well as a toughening up of efficient funds requirements.

2025 remains a record-setting year for illegal small boat crossings into Britain, with more than 50,000 coming to Britain since Sir Keir Starmer entered No. 10.

The number of small boat arrivals under Rishi Sunak passed 50,000 603 days into his premiership.

Under Boris Johnson, it took 1,066 days.

Alp Mehmet, Chairman of the Migration Watch think tank, told the Daily Express: “This is a shocking, if inevitable, milestone, which was going to be reached sooner rather than later once traffickers and migrants realised that our government was clueless on how to stop them.

“Since coming to office, Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper have come up with gimmicks, smoke and mirrors policies and pointless legislation.

“The latest wheeze, cooked up with President Macron, who ran rings around our PM, would have been better named the thousands in, none out scheme.

“At the current rate, we expect over 50,000, which we know about, to have crossed the Channel in small boats by year’s end.

“Until we detain and quickly remove those coming illegally, with no exceptions, they will continue to stream across. We must increase detention capacity, bring back something like the Rwanda deal and leave the ECHR.”