'Golden ticket' asylum rights will end, says PM

People granted asylum will no longer be given “the golden ticket” of resettlement and family reunion rights, Keir Starmer said, amid deepening concerns from charities that his words are demonising refugees. As the prime minister prepared to discuss illegal migration with European leaders, No 10 outlined plans to strip successful claimants of the right to automatically invite spouses and children to join them.

- Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

The right to permanently settle in the UK will be bestowed upon those who prove to be contributing to society, he said, “not by paying a people smuggler to cross the Channel in a boat”. Under current rules, successful asylum seekers have the right to invite family members to join them and settle in the UK.

The new policies are meant to ensure that people who have been granted asylum will receive less protection than they currently enjoy, a government source said. “There are people who are ‘asylum shopping’ across the continent, looking for the country that offers them the most,” the source said.

"We have been criticised in this country for being too generous - creating a pull factor. We will reduce the pull factors," the source added.

The policies are a riposte to Reform UK's plans announced last week to strip the status of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from hundreds of thousands of non-EU citizens who already have it and to force them to reapply for visas under stricter criteria.

Starmer is under intense pressure from within his own party to fight back against the growing electoral threat of Nigel Farage's party.