The Home Office has vowed to introduce new “capped safe and legal” routes for refugees to come to the UK from later this year.
The department said it would allow organisations like universities, community groups and businesses to sponsor refugees who applied to come to the UK, a model based on Canada’s asylum system.
Alongside the new route, the government said it would press ahead with changes to how human rights and modern slavery laws are applied to asylum applications to root out what it described as “vexatious” claims.
In response, the Conservatives said no extra people should be let into the country until illegal immigration was stopped.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the new system would protect “genuine refugees” while “closing loopholes that have been too often abused”.
“Britain has always offered sanctuary to those fleeing war and persecution,” she said.
“But this system only survives if the public trusts that it is fair, controlled, and not open to abuse.”
Mahmood is attempting to shore up support for her immigration bill before Andy Burnham’s expected rise to prime minister. It is set to be put before the Commons next week and its more hardline elements could be opposed by some Labour MPs.
Earlier this year, she took inspiration from Denmark with an asylum system shake-up giving only temporary protection to refugees and doubling the time migrants must wait to gain permanent residency.
The reforms have angered some in Labour who feel there should be more safe and legal routes to the UK to help prevent small boat crossings.
The latest measures, announced on Friday night, draw on Canada’s community sponsorship scheme, which has successfully resettled almost 400,000 refugees since being introduced in 1979.
In Canada, 70% of sponsored refugees find work within a year – 30% higher than those resettled through government schemes, according to the Home Office.
The UK already has a relatively small number of refugees who are sponsored in communities under the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), but the Home Office said the “vast majority” were supported by local councils.
The government has been under pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels at the taxpayers’ expense, while illegal small boat arrivals have also undermined public confidence in the asylum system.
