Labour covertly drops ban on allowing asylum seekers to claim British citizenship

Labour has covertly dropped a ban on allowing asylum seekers to claim British citizenship.

The hushed-up U-turn was the result of a legal challenge which argued that denying the privilege to illegal migrants infringed human rights laws and international treaties.

New documents signed off by the Home Secretary will let illegal arrivals get their hands on British passports, which Shabana Mahmood's department batted away as a "minor change".

This week, Ms Mahmood is setting out the Immigration and Asylum Bill tomorrow, which will also include plans to recruit hundreds of people to serve as adjudicators in magistrate-style reforms to the appeals process.

The undocumented asylum seekers will now have to argue that their arrival in Britain was "outside their control", the Daily Mail exposed.

The new policy says that it will be "normally appropriate to disregard overstaying, illegal entry, or arrival without a required entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation having made a dangerous journey, where it was outside the person's control".

Such legislation cites instances including people being trafficked into Britain, although the policy is not limited to such cases.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp pounced on Labour's "weak" turnaround on Conservative policy and called for the return of an "absolute" ban.

"If Shabana Mahmood has any backbone, she will urgently change the law to restore the Conservative absolute ban on illegal immigrants from claiming citizenship," he told the paper.

"I will be seeking to amend their legislation to do that in the near future.

"The difference between Labour and Conservative has never been clearer: I want to deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival, yet Shabana Mahmood wants to give illegal immigrants citizenship."

The Illegal Migration Act, which was passed under the Tories, blocked small boat migrants from applying for British citizenship.

The legislation was ditched upon Labour's ascension to power following the 2024 General Election, along with the Tories' flagship Rwanda scheme.

Then-Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, drew up new guidelines for those assessing asylum seekers' cases, amending the wording of the legislation.

The redraft made the rules far more flexible, saying that citizenship would "normally" be refused to those who crossed Britain's borders illegally through a "dangerous" route.

Several months later, two firms, advocating for five migrants whose applications had been blocked, called for a judicial review, under which the Home Office eventually buckled.

The British taxpayer was forced to foot the bill in the end, after Ms Mahmood's department was forced to cough up the costs for four of the five individuals.

A Home Office spokesman said: "This Government is introducing the toughest standards anywhere in Europe for gaining settled status and applying for citizenship.

"This will include a 30-year wait for those who arrive via small boat and 20 years for others who claim asylum.

"Citizenship in the UK is a privilege to be earned, not a right, and will be granted only to those who meet strict requirements."