Jewellery and valuables belonging to refugees could be confiscated in order to pay for accommodation and other costs as part of sweeping reforms to the asylum system, a Home Office minister has said.
Alex Norris said it is “right that if people have money in the bank, if people have assets… they should be contributing”, but he insisted that the government would not be taking “family heirlooms” off people arriving in Britain.
Shabana Mahmood is set to rewrite how Britain grants refuge to those fleeing conflict and upheaval with a statement in the House of Commons on Monday – an overhaul she insisted is needed because the “pace and scale of change destabilised communities”.
As part of those reforms, the home secretary is reported to be considering requiring some asylum seekers to contribute to the cost of supporting them, emulating Denmark’s “jewellery law” that allows officials to confiscate refugees’ valuables.
However, it is understood that officials would not be confiscating valuables from individuals upon their arrival at the border.
Home Office sources also said the proposals are concerned with individuals who have a large number of high-value items, rather than sentimental items.
"The principle here, at the moment, is that the British public pay billions of pounds a year so that those seeking asylum or those who have already failed in their applications can be supported in their accommodation and their living", Alex Norris told Sky News.
"It is right that if people have money in the bank, if people have assets like cars, like E-bikes, they should be contributing.
“No, we're not going to be taking people's heirlooms off them at the border. But if there's an individual, for example, getting £800 a month sent to him. He's got himself an Audi. People have cars. People have e-bikes. Those are assets, they should contribute that to the cost of their living."
Pressed on whether jewellery would be confiscated, he insisted they would not be taking wedding rings off people, but added: "What we're saying, though, is if someone comes over with a bag full of gold rings, that's different to a family heirloom or personal items."
Other reforms already trailed as part of the raft of reforms include that refugee status will be made temporary, so that people are returned to their homeland once it becomes safe.
At the same time, safe and legal routes to the UK will be introduced as a way to cut dangerous journeys in small boats across the English Channel.
But several of Labour’s already restive backbenchers have expressed opposition to the proposals ahead of Ms Mahmood’s statement on Monday afternoon.
Labour MP Tony Vaughan warned plans to review refugees’ status every few years would divert “huge amounts of resource away from making our asylum system work”.
And referencing Sir Keir Starmer’s speech at the Labour Party conference, he said: “The prime minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road.
“These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning.”
But another Labour backbencher backed the plans, telling The Independent Ms Mahmood is "highly likely to be the next leader of the Labour Party" if her asylum reforms succeed.
They said the new home secretary has "grasped two out of the three things required - she has diagnosed the problem, she has communicated the anger, the politics and the solution".
But they argued the "missing third" is the solution working, adding: "Only time will tell. We now need to frame the Tories as the party who caused the fire, the Reform party who don’t really want the fire to go out and the left wing protest parties saying there isn’t a fire".
They continued: "If all this comes together - she is highly likely to be the next leader of the Labour Party… but… can the useless Home Office actually deliver?"
