Asylum seekers' fate to be decided by members of the public

Members of the public will be asked to volunteer to decide on appeals from asylum seekers as part of a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA).

Shabana Mahmood is expected to introduce the proposal under the new Immigration and Asylum Bill, which will be presented to MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

The Home Office argues public participation will speed up deportations of ‘illegal immigrants’ with magistrate-like changes to empower those without legal knowledge to help clear the backlog.

Currently, the backlog of appeals outnumbers those waiting for initial decisions, signaling the scale of the crisis.

However, racists and far right agitators are exactly the people who will jump at this opportunity.

As a result, this feels like yet another attempt by the Labour government to match the sinister agenda of Reform UK and Restore Britain to bait far-right voters. Especially given the IIAA won’t function until the end of 2027.

🚨 NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 28, 2026

Asylum seekers’ complex claims to be handled by lay people

The Times reported that there is a backlog of 87,400 cases derived from more than 110,000 asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected. Each appeal takes approximately 67 weeks, so more than 16 months, to be heard.

While they wait for a decision, asylum seekers cannot work so must rely on taxpayer-funded accommodation. This has given far-right parties fresh ammunition to scapegoat a marginalised group as a burden on the state, even though the system itself forces asylum seekers into that position.

To combat this, the IIAA will work similarly to magistrates courts, in which lay people from the public volunteer to decide low-level criminal cases. However, asylum claims are anything but ‘low-level’. We are talking about people’s lives and survival.

Mahmood said:

Today, our appeals tribunal is overwhelmed. As a result, people are gaming the system, lodging vexatious appeals to frustrate their removal. Our new appeals body will ensure claims are heard swiftly and fairly.

Those with a legitimate claim will get their hearing. Those who have no right to remain in this country, and are abusing the system, will be swiftly removed.

Despite attempting to appeal to the long-suffering Labour-left introducing ‘safe routes’, Mahmood has failed to provide a route for Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers. They will, therefore, still look for unsafe routes to reach the UK, such as by dinghy.

Given our role in enabling their mass suffering through deliberate inaction, it is appalling that we are working even harder to diminish their human rights, adding insult to injury.

Restricting interpretation of Article 8 of the ECHR

The government is set to train hundreds of people from a range of backgrounds after widening the eligibility criteria to boost decisionmaking capacity. It will then increase or reduce the number of roles depending on demand.

It also wants to fast-track the deportation of the “most dangerous” foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers, who have made what it calls “bogus” human rights claims.

Funny how Mahmood seems hellbent on dealing with asylum seeking criminals but she isn’t bothered by genocide-complicit Brits at home.

The British government can’t ignore this.

25,000 have signed the letter we just handed into Home Office minster Shabana Mahmood with @icjpalestine demanding that she investigate Brits who have served in the Israeli army amid the Gaza genocide.

Thank you if you signed the letter… pic.twitter.com/Sv2q0zSbw1

— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) June 25, 2026

The Home Office states that the changes to human rights laws within the new bill, coupled with reforming the entire asylum system, will make it possible to deport those deemed ‘illegal’ from the UK.

MPs will vote on the bill next month. If they approve it, the legislation will limit how judges can interpret Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the Times:

The legislation will allow Article 8 claims relating only to a tightened definition of a “core family unit” to include spouses, parents and children.

It will also work to change the Modern Slavery Act despite a report showing slavery is increasing. There could be a time limit introduced for modern slavery claims with only one claim per individual allowed.

However, for the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, this dangerous change — which would empower those whipped up to hate immigrants to have a decisive role in their futures — is not cruel enough.

He said:

If the government was serious about deporting illegal immigrants and foreign criminals they would leave the ECHR, leave the modern slavery treaty, ban illegal immigrants from claiming asylum and prevent most judicial reviews.

But they are too weak to do this.

It is hard to see this rhetoric as anything but a step backwards for the UK. Rather than trying to improve human rights, politicians seem more interested in outdoing each other by chipping away at progress in a race to sound tougher, more nationalistic, and, ultimately, even more cruel.

Fantastic turnout at Suffolk RAF Barnham protest today.
The @ukhomeoffice @UKLabour @ShabanaMahmood wants to permanently put over 1200 asylum seeker men here.
You couldn’t get away with it in Newquay and you won’t get away with it here !

We don’t want these asylum seeker men in… pic.twitter.com/KPrdmOZMG3

— Angie Rayner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 I was born first 🇬🇧 (@AngieRayner007) June 28, 2026

Reform will escalate its hateful bile

This move to hire unqualified people to make such critical decisions about a scapegoated group will likely go down well with those who want immigrants to suffer and want to feel superior over them.

As a result, it is highly likely that those traditionally more to the right of Labour — not that that is a thing anymore — will undoubtedly push further to the fascist right to ‘differentiate’ themselves, and appeal to the most hateful in our society.

Currently, 20,000 failed asylum seekers who have been identified for deportation remain in the UK, which is three-times as many as before Brexit. There are 400,000 migrants with no official immigration status residing here and deportations have failed, allegedly, due to legal challenges.

This increase, however, has been the lifeblood and fuel of Farage’s rise as Reform leader. We have no doubt he will relish this opportunity granted by Mahmood to become even more cruel to counter her.

All the while, vulnerable asylum seekers will remain just where the elitist establishment wants them — stuck between a rock and a hard place — with no choice but to be a cost on the state and their futures a political football for the far right.

Featured image via William Fortunato/ Pexels