Family reunion rules to be tightened in asylum cases

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is to announce details of a tightening of rules for migrants who have been granted asylum bringing their families to the UK.

As MPs return to Westminster, Cooper will also set out reforms to the asylum appeals system.

When a person is granted asylum in the UK, they can apply to bring their family too but Cooper believes changes to policies across Europe mean the UK is now out of kilter with its neighbours and restrictions are needed.

In the Commons this afternoon she is expected to set out the criteria that family members will need to meet – including tougher English language standards and access to sufficient funds.

Cooper will also say she intends to bring forward new legislation to reform the asylum appeals system.

In August 55 small boats crossed the Channel. It was the lowest figure for the month since 2019.

Yet the smuggling gangs seem to be putting more people on each boat – last month there was an average of 65 individuals per vessel.

The Conservatives say “Labour’s claim to have smashed the gangs is completely discredited”.

Reform UK say the “government’s words aren’t matching the reality”.

Cooper will say the government’s overhaul of a “broken” asylum system seeks to end the use of hotels for migrants arriving on small boats – an issue which has led to protests in recent months.

She will also highlight the National Crime Agency’s efforts in tackling people smugglers, saying it led 347 disruptions of immigration crime networks in 2024-25 – the highest level on record and a 40% increase on the previous 12 months.

On Friday the Appeal Court overturned a temporary injunction which would have prevented the Home Office from housing asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel in Epping and it was seen as a possible precedent for legal challenges elsewhere.

Epping Forest District Council will meet later on Monday to decide its next course of action, including whether to take its attempt to prevent the hotel being used for asylum seekers to the Supreme Court.

In the Commons, the home secretary is expected to say the NCA efforts have led to “a significant and long term impact” on people smugglers.

The government’s planned reforms to the asylum system announced in the last few weeks include a new independent body prioritising cases involving asylum accommodation and foreign national offenders within 24 weeks, and a new fast track appeals process.

Cooper will also give an update on the UK’s returns deal with France, where some migrants arriving in the UK on small boats crossing the English Channel will be detained and returned under a pilot scheme lasting 11 months.

She is expected to announce that the first deportations to France are due to take place in the coming weeks.

“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,” she will tell the Commons.

Cooper will say the UK has a “proud record of giving sanctuary to those fleeing persecution” but the system “needs to be properly controlled and managed”.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the government had “lost control” and was “engulfed in a fully fledged borders crisis”.

He said Cooper’s statement was a “desperate distraction tactic”, and pointed to the rise in asylum seekers being housed in hotels under the Labour government and the record number of arrivals in small boats so far this year.

A Reform UK spokesman said: “We have seen a record number of crossings since Labour came to power last year with no signs of it slowing.”

Reform, they added, had a “detailed plan to deport over 600,000 illegal migrants” in its first term in office if elected. Labour sided “with foreign courts and outdated treaties” while Reform were “on the side of the British people”.

A full High Court hearing to decide on a permanent injunction for The Bell Hotel is expected in mid-October.

The government says it plans to stop using hotels for asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament.

Ministers said the judgement on the legal challenge on the Bell Hotel, which was brought by lawyers for the Home Office and The Bell Hotel, would allow the government to do so “in a planned and orderly fashion”.

But some councils say they are still pursuing legal action to stop asylum seekers from being housed in hotels in their areas.

Reform UK said all 12 councils it controlled should explore legal options to stop asylum seekers being housed in local hotels.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch urged Tory-run councils pursuing legal action to “keep going” and said advice would be issued to all Conservative councillors following the ruling.

The protests at the Bell Hotel began after an asylum seeker housed there was arrested and subsequently charged with several offences, including an alleged sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl.

Protests against the housing of asylum seekers at hotels – as well as counter-protests – continued to take place across England and Scotland at the weekend including in Epping, London, Gloucester, Portsmouth, Warrington, Norwich and Falkirk.