Home Secretary gives key IPPR speech about a “fair but firm” overhaul of immigration
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood spoke to an audience at the Institute for Public Policy Research on March 5 on the UK’s plans to make “some of the most significant reforms to migration – both legal and asylum – in a generation.” This was her first big policy speech since taking office. The speech laid forth a new strategic framework that combines stricter regulations with openness that is focused on certain areas.
Confirmed key measures include:
- A new “visa brake” that stops Student visas for those from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan, as well as Skilled-Worker visas for Afghans, starting on March 26;
- Reducing the initial refugee leave from five years to 30 months, with regular evaluations and the possibility of returning once conditions improve;
- Doubling the standard qualifying period for settlement from five to ten years (with shorter routes for high-skilled public-service professionals) and raising the English-language requirement to CEFR B2 from 2027;
- Discussion of incentives of up to £40,000 for families who have failed to get asylum and leave peacefully, together with stronger enforcement powers if they don’t;
- Plans to get rid of the legal obligation to help asylum seekers, making help optional and only available if they follow the rules.(gov.uk)
Mahmood called the package “compassionate but controlled” and said that net migration had already dropped 70% since its peak in 2024. She said more needs to be done to restore people’s trust, preserve public services, and stop people-smuggling groups that smuggle migrants across the Channel.
For employers, the main points are that high-skill pathways will be more stable and predictable, but they will also have to follow the rules more closely. Managers of health care, hospitality, and logistics workers who rely on lower-skilled workers may have to wait longer for sponsorship and have tougher language requirements. Global-mobility teams should look at the paths that present assignees are taking to settle down, verify their English-language scores, and plan for a longer time frame of 10 years.
NGOs that help refugees quickly cautioned that temporary protection and the end of the duty to help will make people even poorer and make the government work harder. Businesses, on the other hand, liked that the rules for settling were clear and that new safe and legal ways to work would be announced later this year. A draft Immigration Reform Bill is scheduled to be presented to Parliament in the summer. This gives anyone with an interest in the issue a short amount of time to push for changes.