{"id":40805,"date":"2025-11-08T07:45:43","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T07:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/uk-seeks-inspiration-from-denmark-to-shake-up-immigration-system\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T07:45:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T07:45:43","slug":"uk-seeks-inspiration-from-denmark-to-shake-up-immigration-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/uk-seeks-inspiration-from-denmark-to-shake-up-immigration-system\/","title":{"rendered":"UK seeks inspiration from Denmark to shake up immigration system"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Iain Watson,<\/span>Political correspondent<\/span> and <\/span><\/p>\n

Patrick Cowling,<\/span>Producer, BBC Radio 4’s Immigration: the Danish Way<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"PAPA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Shabana Mahmood sent officials to Denmark to study its immigration system<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The Home Secretary is set to announce a major shake-up of the immigration and asylum system later this month, the BBC has learned.<\/p>\n

Shabana Mahmood will model some of her new measures on the Danish system – seen as one of the toughest in Europe.<\/p>\n

It is understood officials have been looking at Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunion and restricting most refugees to a temporary stay in the country.<\/p>\n

Mahmood wants to reduce incentives that draw people to the UK, while making it easier to expel those with no right to be in the country.<\/p>\n

But some in her party are against going down the Danish route, with one left-wing Labour MP saying it was too “hardcore” and contained echoes of the far right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the Labour conference in September, Mahmood promised<\/a> to “do whatever it takes” to regain control of Britain’s borders.<\/p>\n

She is impressed that Denmark has driven down the number of successful asylum claims to a 40-year low – with the exception of 2020, amid pandemic travel restrictions.<\/p>\n

The BBC has been told she dispatched senior Home Office officials to Copenhagen last month to study what lessons could be applied to the UK.<\/p>\n

In Denmark, refugees who have been personally targeted by a foreign regime are likely to be given protection.<\/p>\n

But most people who have been successfully granted asylum when fleeing conflicts are now only allowed to remain in the country on a temporary basis.<\/p>\n

When the Danish government decrees their home country is safe, they can be returned.<\/p>\n

For those who have been in Denmark for a longer period, the length of time necessary to acquire settlement rights has been extended and conditions – such as being in full-time employment – have been added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Denmark’s tighter rules for family reunions have also attracted the interest of UK Home Office officials.<\/p>\n

If you are a refugee who has been given residency rights in Denmark, both you and your partner who is applying to join you in the country must be 24 or older.<\/p>\n

The Danish government says this is to guard against forced marriages.<\/p>\n

The partner in Denmark must not have claimed benefits for three years and also has to put up a financial guarantee – and both partners have to pass a Danish language test.<\/p>\n

Refugees who live in housing estates designated as “parallel societies”- that is where more than 50% of residents are from what the Danish government considers to be “non-Western” backgrounds – will not be eligible for family reunion at all.<\/p>\n

In September, the UK Home Office suspended new applications under the Refugee Family Reunion scheme<\/a>, pending the drawing up of new rules.<\/p>\n

The pre-September scheme allowed spouses, partners and dependents under 18 to come to the UK without fulfilling the income and English-language tests that apply to other migrants.<\/p>\n

Mahmood is unlikely to go as far as Denmark when she announces the UK’s replacement rules for family reunions, but it seems likely that she will take steps along a more restrictive route.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rasmus Stoklund says Denmark’s biggest challenge is expelling foreign criminals<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Last week, the BBC also made the journey to Denmark to find out how their immigration system operates.<\/p>\n

Mahmood’s opposite number Rasmus Stoklund, Denmark’s minister for Immigration and Integration, is a member of Labour’s sister party the Social Democrats.<\/p>\n

He said “We have tightened our laws in many ways. <\/p>\n

“We return more people back home. We have made it quite difficult to have family reunification in Denmark.<\/p>\n

“You will get expelled a lot easier if you commit crimes. And we have made different programmes to help people go back home voluntarily.”<\/p>\n

There is no indication the UK government would follow the Danish example of offering substantial sums – as much as the equivalent of \u00a324,000 – for asylum seekers to return their country of origin, including making a contribution to the cost of their children’s education.<\/p>\n

But some of what Stoklund outlined is <\/b>being closely scrutinised in the Home Office, the BBC understands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to Stoklund, tighter immigration and integration is about protecting the societal nature of Denmark, which is a smaller country with a lower population than the UK.<\/p>\n

“We expect people who come here to participate and contribute positively and if they don’t, they aren’t welcome,” he said.<\/p>\n

In Denmark – as in the UK – there is a live political debate on whether the European Convention on Human Rights<\/a> (ECHR) makes the expulsion of foreign criminals more difficult.<\/p>\n

Like the UK government, Stoklund does not want to leave the ECHR but believes changes could be made.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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

Mahmood is said to be keen to meet Stoklund at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ida Auken says a tougher stance on immigration neutralises a toxic issue<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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For Labour ministers, there are political, as well as practical lessons, to learn from Denmark.<\/p>\n

In 2015, the country had a centre-left government in trouble and a right-wing populist party surging in the polls, with immigration increasingly worrying voters.<\/p>\n

There are parallels with the UK today, as Reform UK maintains its poll lead over Labour. <\/p>\n

Downing Street is interested in how a centre-left party managed to defeat the Danish People’s Party, one-time allies of Nigel Farage’s UKIP in the European Parliament, to return to power.<\/p>\n

Ida Auken, the Social Democrats’ environment spokesperson, said adopting a tougher stance on immigration meant there was space to pursue progressive policies in other areas.<\/p>\n

“For us, it was a licence to operate on the things we want to do,” she said.<\/b><\/p>\n

“We want have a workforce that are educated, that have a social security and we do want to do a green transition.<\/p>\n

“And we would never have been able to do this unless we’ve had those strict migration policies.”<\/p>\n

Some senior ministers in the UK are thought to find that argument persuasive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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UK officials have been spending time in Copenhagen<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Critics would point out that while there are similarities with the UK, <\/b>the situation in Denmark is different.<\/p>\n

The country is not facing small boats arrivals from the North Sea or the Baltic.<\/p>\n

Danish is not as widely spoken as English, so language requirements likely discourage some potential refugees.<\/p>\n

And while the vast majority of Social Democrat parliamentarians were on board for more hardline policies, there is far more wariness amongst some Labour MPs.<\/p>\n

Off the record, some mainstream Labour MPs say they would oppose the transplantation of Danish policies to the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On the left of the party, former frontbencher Clive Lewis argued strongly against adopting the Danish system in an effort to outflank Reform UK.<\/p>\n

“Denmark’s Social Democrats have gone down, what I would call a hardcore approach to immigration,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They’ve adopted many of the talking points of what we would call the far right.<\/p>\n

“Labour does need to win back some Reform-leaning voters but you can’t do that at the cost of losing progressive votes.”<\/p>\n

Jo White, who leads a 50-strong group of Labour MPs in “Red Wall” seats in the Midlands and North of England, would like to see ministers go further in a Danish direction.<\/p>\n

She argued that Labour would pay a heavy political price if it does not adopt policies such as requiring some asylum seekers to contribute to the cost of their stay.<\/p>\n

“The consequences are that we go into a general election where Reform will be the biggest challenger in most Labour seats… and we will be annihilated.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Immigration: the Danish Way will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 13:30 GMT on Sunday, 9 November, and will be available on BBC Sounds.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Iain Watson,Political correspondent and Patrick Cowling,Producer, BBC Radio 4’s Immigration: the Danish Way PA Media Shabana Mahmood sent officials to Denmark to study its immigration system The Home Secretary is set to announce a major shake-up of the immigration and asylum system later this month, the BBC has learned. Shabana Mahmood will model some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[6906,574,5389,393,3945,686],"class_list":["post-40805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-denmark","tag-immigration","tag-inspiration","tag-seeks","tag-shake","tag-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40807,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40805\/revisions\/40807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}