Aware of the political urgency around immigration and asylum, Labour is looking abroad for inspiration. In this case, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to model new Government immigration measures on the policies of Denmark’s center-left Social Democrats. But facing early resistance from MPs in her own party, and amid a Green surge and Labour’s continued hemorrhaging of British Muslim support, how far can she really go?

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who has served in office for six years and led the Social Democrats for over a decade, has spearheaded consistently bold initiatives on immigration and identity. This is not just compared to the European Left, but by the standards of continental politics in general.

In 2021, she announced that she had set a goal of zero asylum seekers for Denmark, arguing that “we must make sure that not too many people come to our country, otherwise social cohesion cannot exist: it is already under threat.” While some leaders on the Left have been squeamish about acknowledging how liberal asylum policies and integration-related failures have fed the beast of Islamist extremism, Frederiksen has defied the trend, highlighting it as a major national security problem and a threat to the integrity of the Danish judicial system.

Mahmood reportedly dispatched senior Home Office officials to Copenhagen last month to study approaches to migration policy which could be adopted in the UK. While refugees who are personally targeted by a foreign regime are likely to be given protection in Denmark, those successfully granted asylum when fleeing war-torn territories are now only allowed to remain in the country on a temporary basis. In addition to this, the length of time required to qualify for settlement rights in Denmark has been extended, with a strong emphasis on new conditions such as being in full-time work.

Under Frederiksen’s premiership, requirements surrounding family reunion — especially in the form of spousal migration — have been tightened. This includes both partners having to be at least 24 years old, justified on the grounds that this guards against forced marriages. Additionally, the partner must not have claimed welfare for three years and must put up a financial guarantee. In the spirit of integration and looking to combat spousal exploitation of female newcomers, both partners must pass a Danish language assessment.

Meanwhile, refugees who live in segregated housing estates designated as “parallel societies”, where more than half of residents are from what the Danish government classifies as “non-Western” backgrounds, will not be eligible for any form of family reunification. Implementing such policies in the UK would be tricky as they could contravene the Equality Act 2010, where race — including ethnic origin and nationality — and religious belief are enshrined as protected characteristics.

Mahmood will face other barriers if she is looking to replicate the Danish model in Britain. The truth is that the UK is light-years behind Denmark when it comes to integration, and the Labour leadership is likely to be greeted with much in-house opposition if it looks to take a more hardline approach to immigration. The argument that strict migration policies will help with the sustainability of the welfare state and free up funding for other progressive causes does not seem to resonate with the Parliamentary Labour Party, with one Left-wing backbencher labeling the Danish framework too “hardcore”.

While the Labour leadership will be keen to recapture lost ground to the insurgent Reform UK, some in the party may consider such measures “Islamophobic”. This is especially true of those who are already anxious over the Government’s retreat from producing a new Islamophobia definition.

Mahmood is an unquestionably talented politician who may well be fashioning herself as the British Mette Frederiksen, and these reforms would certainly be an effective way to push back Reform’s teal tanks parked on Labour’s red lawns. The hard part will involve getting her colleagues to agree.

---

Dr Rakib Ehsan is a researcher specialising in British ethnic minority socio-political attitudes, with a particular focus on the effects of social integration and intergroup relations.

 

rakibehsan

---