The UK government’s immigration and asylum bill puts forward a number of proposals to overhaul the asylum system. These include changes to how human rights are interpreted, and requiring refugees to pay back some of the support they receive. If passed, it will be the fifth immigration act adopted since 2022.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says the aim is to establish “a firm but fair immigration system”. But will these measures have their intended effect?

Reforming asylum appeals

The legislation proposes reforming the asylum appeals system through the creation of a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority. This will involve training members of the public to be asylum adjudicators, “much like magistrates”. This is intended to speed up the asylum appeals process, which currently has a huge backlog.

The UN refugee agency has warned that similar efforts in Australia led to significant delays and increased backlog in the asylum system. These concerns are exacerbated by the fact that many who come before the appeals body will not have legal representation, due to an acute shortage of legal aid in the immigration sector.

It would be more sensible for the Home Office to invest in improving the quality of its initial decision making, which has been heavily criticised by the chief inspector of borders and immigration, and ultimately leads to high numbers of appeals.

Reinterpreting human rights

The legislation also introduces changes to the interpretation of Article 8 of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) – the right to private and family life. It says that “family life” should only refer to........

© The Conversation