The Briefing Room - What can the UK learn from the rest of Europe about asylum reform?

Download What can the UK learn from the rest of Europe about asylum reform?

This week the government announced an overhaul of the UK’s asylum system with the stated aim of making Britain look a lot less attractive to those planning to make their way across the Channel on a small boat or outstay their visa if already here. A raft of proposals include ending a refugee’s effective right to stay in the country indefinitely, a quicker way of deporting those who fail in their asylum applications and a less sympathetic approach to refugee families. Denmark has been held up in recent days as an example of a country with much tougher asylum policies. So are we in the UK now part of a wider European trend of clamping down on asylum seekers? And what can we learn from the success or failure of other asylum policies across the continent.

Guests:

Dr Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University
Professor Andrew Geddes, Director of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute in Florence.
Susi Dennison, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight, Cordelia Hemming
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound engineer: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon

Published on Thursday, 20th November 2025.

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