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Women and childen to lose out most from Home Office plan to tighten rules on refugee family reunions, experts sayGood morning. August used to be known as the “silly season” in newspaper offices because, with little proper news happening, journalists had to resort to trivia. Then we had Brexit, and the four-week silly season got replaced by eight years of chaos. This year there has been a slight reversion to the pre-2016 norm because the UK political debate over the summer has been entirely dominated by a debate about small boats and irregular migration which has not been fully rational. The claim that asylum seekers are posing a significant threat to public safety is classic xenophobic scaremongering, of the kind that has been a factor in British public life for centuries. (There is a good explanation of why the evidence does not support the scaremongering here.) But the issue isn’t remotely silly either. Small boat arrivals are a huge policy challenge for the government, because of the costs and the pressures on public services, but above all because the public want them to stop.And, with the summer recess now over and MPs returning to the Commons, this is still the top item on the government’s agenda. As Kiran Stacey reports, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is due to make a statement to the Commons on this topic this afternoon. She will cover various topics, including providing more detail on the government’s plan to restrict the extent to which article 8 of the European convention on human rights (the right to family life) can be used by asylum seekers to avoid deporting and giving an update on the “one in, one out” returns deal with France. But she will also give details of plans to restrict the ability of people granted asylum to bring family members to the UK. Kiran says:
Cooper will promise to overhaul the UK’s family reunion policy, which allows people to bring their partners and children to the country once they are granted refugee status.
The number of people who entered on such visas has risen sharply since 2022, with just over 20,000 being granted in the year to June 2025 – a 30% rise on the previous 12 months.
Officials say the rise in refugee numbers is in part to blame, but they also believe the UK now has a more lax regime than many nearby countries after moves elsewhere in Europe to tighten their rules.
In Denmark, for example, refugees must prove financial stability before being allowed to bring over family members. Cooper is understood to be looking at similar changes, as well as setting a minimum period refugees must be settled before being allowed to invite their families.
This proposal has already been criticised by refugee advocates. Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council, says 90% of those affected will be women and children. He has posted these on Bluesky.
The immigration white paper proposed putting in financial and language requirements. Financial requirements for refugees who have been stuck in the asylum system unable to work, and language requirements for children escaping war zones.
This will either force families to stay split up, leaving thousands of women and children in extremely dangerous situations, or it forces them into dangerous journeys. Either way, this has terrible consequences.
In the year to June 2025, 92% of refugee family reunion visas were given to women and children. More than half went to children. Two-thirds to people from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran and Sudan. It helps integration and provides a safe route. Family reunion should be easier, not harder.
Here is the agenda for the day.Morning: Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, are on a visit to Reigate where they are due to speak to the media.11am: Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, holds a press conference highlighting plans for councils to save money via changes to the way they invest their pension funds.11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.2.30pm: Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.After 3.30pm: At least two ministerial statements are expected in the Commons, from Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, on the asylum system, and from David Lammy, the foreign secretary, on Gaza.4pm: The full written judgment is due to be published explaining the court decision on Friday blocking the temporary injuntion saying asylum seekers should be removed from the Bell hotel in Epping.Afternoon: The Liberal Democrats hope to make an application in the Commons to the Speaker for an emergency debate on Gaza.If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.ShareUpdated at 10.20 BSTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureDowning Street has also announced that Tim Allan, who worked as Alastair Campbell’s deputy in the early days of New Labour but who left No 10 to set up Portand, a PR company, is joining Keir Starmer’s team as the government’s executive director of communications.This is from my colleague Pippa Crerar on the move.
Big shake up of the No 10 comms operation too.
Tim Allan, an adviser to Tony Blair who went on to fund PR giant Portland, coming in as executive director of govt comms.
(This is a political role separate from that of David Dinsmore who has been tasked with improving the civil service comms operation).
James Lyons, No 10’s director of comms for strategy, is stepping down, but Steph Driver, his counterpart for day-to-day comms, and who is close to Starmer, stays put, answering to Allan.
And these are from Politico’s Anne McElvoy.
A huge change in the arrival of Tim Allan of strategic communications weakness in govt. Also massively strengthens the arm of the more “New Labour” constituency close to PM. And gather there was unease in some quarters about how the existing number 10 communications set up would work with an overall government head of Comms in David Dinsmore. That won’t be such a problem for Tim Allan.
Interesting that it’s one Blairite in with T Allan and one out in the Downing Street pack shuffle as Liz Lloyd leaves.
This was a waste of an experience’d hire: but never quite grafted on to the Starmer vibe and vice versa. So the policy jobs remain in the penumbra of people who have been close to KS – and the overall comms will be run by someone who’s default setting is to aim for the centre or even the right of centre.
I’m not saying this will work, but it is something of a challenge
ShareDarren Jones appointed ‘chief secretary to the PM’, and put in charge of policy deliveryHere is the Downing Street news release about the mini No 10 reshuffle, including Darren Jones becoming chief secretary (minister of state) to the PM. Jones was chief secretary to the Treasury. (See 9.43am.)This is a new post. There is no obvious precedent, although Boris Johnson also decided to bring a minister into No 10 in a delivery/enforcer role when he made Steve Barclay his chief of staff. (That appointment was not generally seen as a success.)Keir Starmer already has a chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. But McSweeney is seen as better at strategising, campaigning and electioneering than he is at performance management. Jones, a spreadsheet enthusiast, will “work collaboratively across UK government to drive forward progress in key policy areas, reporting directly to the prime minister”, No 10 says.Darren Jones. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Getty ImagesShareStarmer shakes up No 10 operation with mini-reshuffleDarren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has been moved to a new senior role in Downing Street as Keir Starmer attempts to get a grip on delivery before what is likely to be a tumultuous autumn for the government, Pippa Crerar and Peter Walker report.ShareWomen and childen to lose out most from Home Office plan to tighten rules on refugee family reunions, experts sayGood morning. August used to be known as the “silly season” in newspaper offices because, with little proper news happening, journalists had to resort to trivia. Then we had Brexit, and the four-week silly season got replaced by eight years of chaos. This year there has been a slight reversion to the pre-2016 norm because the UK political debate over the summer has been entirely dominated by a debate about small boats and irregular migration which has not been fully rational. The claim that asylum seekers are posing a significant threat to public safety is classic xenophobic scaremongering, of the kind that has been a factor in British public life for centuries. (There is a good explanation of why the evidence does not support the scaremongering here.) But the issue isn’t remotely silly either. Small boat arrivals are a huge policy challenge for the government, because of the costs and the pressures on public services, but above all because the public want them to stop.And, with the summer recess now over and MPs returning to the Commons, this is still the top item on the government’s agenda. As Kiran Stacey reports, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is due to make a statement to the Commons on this topic this afternoon. She will cover various topics, including providing more detail on the government’s plan to restrict the extent to which article 8 of the European convention on human rights (the right to family life) can be used by asylum seekers to avoid deporting and giving an update on the “one in, one out” returns deal with France. But she will also give details of plans to restrict the ability of people granted asylum to bring family members to the UK. Kiran says:
Cooper will promise to overhaul the UK’s family reunion policy, which allows people to bring their partners and children to the country once they are granted refugee status.
The number of people who entered on such visas has risen sharply since 2022, with just over 20,000 being granted in the year to June 2025 – a 30% rise on the previous 12 months.
Officials say the rise in refugee numbers is in part to blame, but they also believe the UK now has a more lax regime than many nearby countries after moves elsewhere in Europe to tighten their rules.
In Denmark, for example, refugees must prove financial stability before being allowed to bring over family members. Cooper is understood to be looking at similar changes, as well as setting a minimum period refugees must be settled before being allowed to invite their families.
This proposal has already been criticised by refugee advocates. Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council, says 90% of those affected will be women and children. He has posted these on Bluesky.
The immigration white paper proposed putting in financial and language requirements. Financial requirements for refugees who have been stuck in the asylum system unable to work, and language requirements for children escaping war zones.
This will either force families to stay split up, leaving thousands of women and children in extremely dangerous situations, or it forces them into dangerous journeys. Either way, this has terrible consequences.
In the year to June 2025, 92% of refugee family reunion visas were given to women and children. More than half went to children. Two-thirds to people from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran and Sudan. It helps integration and provides a safe route. Family reunion should be easier, not harder.
Here is the agenda for the day.Morning: Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, are on a visit to Reigate where they are due to speak to the media.11am: Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, holds a press conference highlighting plans for councils to save money via changes to the way they invest their pension funds.11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.2.30pm: Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.After 3.30pm: At least two ministerial statements are expected in the Commons, from Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, on the asylum system, and from David Lammy, the foreign secretary, on Gaza.4pm: The full written judgment is due to be published explaining the court decision on Friday blocking the temporary injuntion saying asylum seekers should be removed from the Bell hotel in Epping.Afternoon: The Liberal Democrats hope to make an application in the Commons to the Speaker for an emergency debate on Gaza.If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.ShareUpdated at 10.20 BST
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