Government Immigration and Asylum Proposals

On 17 November 2025, the Home Office published Restoring Order and Control, a paper setting out several proposals for changes to immigration and asylum policy. The Home Secretary made a statement in the House of Commons on the same day.

This briefing sets out the key proposals announced and provides analysis of these, and of the agenda underlying them. The general approach is to continue using the asylum system as a means of deterrence against people coming to the UK rather than as a system for delivering safety and security to refugees who do. Closely connected to this is a decision by ministers that social division, which manifests in xenophobia and racism towards these people, is to be calmed by the Government being itself more hostile and punitive in its treatment of them.

This is an extremely dangerous time for refugees, but also for wider society and the impact that Governments of the UK have on human rights respect here and elsewhere. This briefing provides an introduction to some of the dangers.