UK to announce biggest asylum overhaul 'in decades'

Priti Patel.

The British government on Wednesday launched plans for what it said would be the biggest overhaul of asylum rules in decades, saying the current system was ‘overwhelmed’. Interior minister Priti Patel said ‘The New Plan for Immigration’ would be based ‘on genuine need of refuge, not on the ability to pay people smugglers’, but drew fire from refugee groups. The plan is focused on identifying genuine asylum seekers, deterring illegal entry and changing the rules to make it easier to deport those ‘with no right’ to be in the country. ‘We're looking at a range of options as to how we can reform the entire asylum system, and importantly for people that are fleeing persecution from terrible parts of the world,’ she told the BBC.