UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood/Image: Reuters
More than 18,500 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year, compared with more than 32,000 during the same period in 2025. UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced the reopening of the country’s refugee resettlement scheme, expanding legal pathways for people fleeing conflict while seeking to reduce dangerous Channel crossings. An annual limit will apply to the routes, although the government has not yet announced the number of people who will be accepted.
“We must live up to our international obligations,” she said, while stressing that refugee routes needed to be “capped and controlled”. Mahmood said the approach was intended to combine greater control over Britain’s borders with legal alternatives for refugees. “That is what we can do, this is who we can be, as we restore control to our borders, bear down on small boat crossings and unlock the inherent generosity of this country,” she said. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Mahmood of making a “desperate attempt to appease” Labour members who have opposed parts of her asylum reforms.
The government has linked the expansion of legal routes to its wider efforts to tackle irregular migration. The announcement has drawn criticism from the Conservatives. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
Speaking at the Labour Party conference on Monday, Mahmood said the state had a responsibility to help people fleeing war and persecution but stressed that the system must remain limited.
The scheme stopped accepting new applicants in December 2024. Alongside its reopening, the government is introducing three sponsorship routes involving communities, universities and employers, with the first arrivals under the new routes expected from 2027.
The UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) will reopen immediately, with Afghan women and girls and Palestinians expected to account for about a quarter of arrivals, the Home Office said. Those arriving through the safe and legal pathways will be placed on a five-year route towards permanent settlement, according to the plans. The government expects hundreds of refugees to arrive initially, with numbers potentially reaching the low thousands as illegal migration falls.