An act of parliament changing the UK’s immigration and asylum system has been passed every year since 2022. This activity has not increased public confidence that the nation’s borders are well managed, nor has it stopped the rise of radical rightwing parties running anti-immigrant campaigns.

There is no reason to expect yet another law to buck that trend, but the Home Office is giving it a try. Measures contained in a bill published this week include a new body to handle asylum decision appeals outside the existing court system; a means-tested scheme to charge asylum seekers for state-provided support they receive; narrowing the terms under which claims can be made under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which guarantees the right to private and family life.

There is more performance than remedy in this package. Setting up a new appeals body could be a costly distraction from the task of making the existing process for........

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