People granted asylum in the UK will only be allowed to stay in the country temporarily, in sweeping reforms expected to be announced on Monday.

Modelled on the Danish system, the aim is to make the UK less attractive for illegal immigrants and make it easier to deport them.

Planned changes mean that refugee status will become temporary and subject to regular review, with refugees removed as soon as their home countries are deemed safe.

Under current UK rules, those granted refugee status have it for five years and can then apply for indefinite leave to remain and get on a route to citizenship.

In a social media video trailing her announcement, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “We will always be a country that gives sanctuary to people who are fleeing danger, but we must restore order and control.”

She called it “the most significant changes to our asylum system in modern times”.

An ally of the home secretary said: “Today, becoming a refugee equals a lifetime of protection in Britain.

“Mahmood will change that, making refugee status temporary and subject to regular review. The moment your home country is safe to return to, you will be removed.

“While this might seem like a small technical shift, this new settlement marks the most significant shift in the treatment of refugees since the Second World War.”

Time and money ‘wasted’ on Rwanda scheme

While the number of asylum claims across Europe has fallen, numbers in Britain have risen.

Ms Mahmood said the previous government had had “years to tackle this problem” but had “wasted” time and money on the £700m Rwanda scheme.

Read more: Could Danish model save Labour’s bacon?

Some 39,075 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey across the Channel so far this year, according to the latest Home Office figures.

That is an increase of 19% on the same point in 2024 and up 43% on 2023, but remains 5% lower than at the equivalent point in 2022, which remains the peak year for crossings.

Other changes expected to be announced on Monday include requiring judges to prioritise public safety over migrants’ rights to a family life, or the risk that they will face “inhuman” treatment if returned to their home country, the Telegraph has reported.

Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunions are also being looked at.

Read more politics news:
Under-fire Starmer aide won’t quit
Plans to raise income tax in budget ditched

Changes will prevent refugees from ‘integrating into British life’

While some research has suggested that deterrence policies have little impact on asylum seekers’ choice of destination, but a 2017 study said Denmark’s “negative nation branding” had proved effective in limiting asylum applications.

The number of successful asylum claims has fallen to a 40-year low in Denmark, with 95% of failed asylum seekers deported from the country.

But some believe the changes could damage future generations seeking a haven from war, persecution and violence.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of Refugee Council, said: “These sweeping changes will not deter people from making dangerous crossings, but they will unfairly prevent men, women and children from putting down roots and integrating into British life.

“Refugee status represents safety from the conflict and persecution that people have fled.

“When refugees are not stuck in limbo, they feel a greater sense of belonging, as full members of their new communities with a stable future for themselves, their children and generations to come.

“We urge the government to rethink these highly impractical plans, which will also add to the backlog and chaos that the Home Office is tackling.

“Instead, they should ensure that refugees who work hard and contribute to Britain can build secure, settled lives and give back to their communities.”

Shabana Mahmood will be appearing on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am tomorrow.

It is an earthquake for the MAGA ecosystem.

Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene were a formidable alliance on the Republican Party’s hard-right flank.

For years, the congresswoman for Georgia embodied the combative, conspiracy-tinged politics that define Trump’s presidency.

She called him “the father of the America First movement,” campaigned to be his running mate, and was quick to defend him.

“David Cameron can kiss my ass,” she told Sky News when asked about the former UK Prime Minister’s concerns about US fading support for Ukraine.

Door-stepped by my colleague Martha Kelner, she said: “We don’t give a crap about your country or your reporting.

“The Trump administration is doing a great job and I stand by their statements,” she added.

“I’m thankful to President Trump that he is leading us out of wars.”

Watch Sky’s Martha Kelner’s encounter with Taylor Greene from earlier this year…

But in recent months, she had expressed concerns about Trump’s involvement in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere.

It escalated when she stood with victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to demand justice and joined Democrats in demanding a vote on the release of all files.

Just days ago, President Trump told reporters Taylor Greene had “lost her way”, but something triggered a war of words late on Friday.

The president had taken questions on Air Force One, with two reporters citing Taylor Green’s demand that the files be released.

Moments later, President Trump posted on Truth Social that he was withdrawing his endorsement of the congresswoman.

He branded her a “ranting lunatic”, “wacky Marjorie”, and said all she ever does is “COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN.”

Her reply came very quickly, in a post claiming she had sent the president text messages about Jeffrey Epstein.

“Apparently this is what sent him over the edge. The Epstein Files,” she posted.

Read more on Jeffrey Epstein:
Ghislaine Maxwell ‘wants Trump to commute sentence’
What Epstein’s right-hand woman said about Trump and Andrew

She accused him of “coming after” her to “scare all the other Republicans” before next week’s vote to release the Epstein files.

“It’s astonishing how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level,” she added.

For years, they were joined at the hip – Trump the movement’s figurehead, Taylor Greene its megaphone – but it has now descended into open hostility.

Epstein, the story that won’t go away, has just cost Trump one of his most loyal allies, and rocked the internal dynamics of his political movement.

ALSO, the electric bike spin-off from EV-maker Rivian, just dropped some welcome news: a more affordable version of the bike is coming. Officially called the TM-B, the new model will launch at $3,500, coming in a full $1,000 under the previously announced $4,500 TM-B Performance we saw last month.

While the Performance model leaned heavily into premium components and higher output, the new TM-B appears designed to bring the platform’s eye-catching design to a wider audience.

The TM-B includes much of the same design and basic feature set as the TM-B Performance, though the $1,000 lower price tag does come from the company filet-ing a few corners. The bike drops from the 10x assist of the Performance edition to just 5x assist (presumably meaning half the power, but it’s hard to say since e-bike companies generally don’t list power as a multiple of rider input). It also has a smaller battery, more basic coil spring shock instead of the nicer and lighter air shock, fewer ride modes, and doesn’t come with the same premium styling options.

The bike does retain ALSO’s interesting drive-by-wire solution though, which means that there isn’t a physical connection between the pedals and the bike. Instead, riders turn pedal cranks connected to a generator that converts pedaling energy into electrical energy to feed the rear wheel through a Gates carbon belt drive.

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Hydraulic disc brakes along with ABS-braking come standard on both models, and the cockpit includes a compact color display with app connectivity, offering basic ride metrics and configurable assist modes.

ALSO hasn’t committed to an exact delivery date, but reservations are now open.

Electrek’s Take

A $3,500 entry point is undeniably better news for fans of ALSO’s design language who weren’t ready to shell out $4,500. However, I still seem to be one of the few in the industry who are hesitant to believe there is a path to profitability here. Americans don’t buy $4,500 e-bikes, at least not in high volume, and they don’t really buy $3,500 e-bikes, either.

It’s not that the bike isn’t worth it – ALSO’s engineers should be commended for stuffing a crazy amount of tech and innovation into this bike. But it simply won’t matter when the bike doesn’t sell very many units and ALSO has to keep making payroll on its huge workforce comprised of many expensive engineers and other tech roles. It’s very close to the same playbook that we watched sink other tech-forward e-bike companies like VanMoof, which went bankrupt after it couldn’t keep up with servicing its expensive and proprietary e-bike tech while trying to float a massive workforce.

Frankly, I’m a bit confused. Most basic e-bike media seems to be going nuts over the thing, and I’m the only one pointing out that the king appears to be walking around naked.

Also, the timing here is… odd.

Good news usually gets announced on a Tuesday morning, not sent to us at 4:56 PM on a Friday, right as everyone logs off and heads into the weekend. The classic “Friday news dump” is where companies hide things they don’t want attention on – not where they brag about slicing $1,000 off the entry price of a new model. A head scratcher all around.

Either way, a lower-priced TM-B is objectively good news. The problem is, it might just be shouting into the wind.