The Home Secretary has announced new safe passages for refugees to enter the United Kingdom.

Charities will be able to sponsor refugees for new ‘safe and legal routes’ from next month in a bid to counter the deaths seen in the English Channel harboured by people smugglers.

The UK resettlement scheme will reopen immediately, with around a quarter of those admitted to the UK under it expected to be Palestinians and women and girls from Afghanistan.

Speaking at Labour Conference, Shabana Mahmoodalso set out applications for both a ‘community sponsorship route’ and a ‘student sponsorship route’.

‘There is nothing fair about a lack of control at our borders,’ she said. ‘It is not fair that criminal gangs determine who comes to this country.

‘It is not fair that they put dangerous boats into the water, with no regard for human life – shown once again today, with three more tragic deaths in the Channel.

‘It is not fair that those with a genuine need of protection cannot find a safe and legal way to claim asylum.

‘It is also not fair that communities across this country have been asked to bear so great a burden, with around 90,000 people living in asylum accommodation. For that reason, to restore fairness, we must restore control.’

She said the work was beginning to bear fruit, with small boat arrivals down significantly, with ‘this summer recording the lowest number since 2021′.

Under other routes the Government has already committed to opening, the first arrivals of refugees sponsored by communities and students sponsored by universities are expected to arrive in autumn 2027.

And applications for an employer-sponsored refugee route will open in spring 2027, with the first arrivals expected to follow later in the year.

The announcement came after a child, 10, and two women were reportedly crushed to death on board a packed smuggler’s boat in the English Channel.

Reform UK home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf called the plans ‘a complete disgrace’.

He said: ‘Shabana Mahmood’s plans will mean more migrants and more Afghan criminals arriving in our country.

‘Anyone thinking about arriving under these schemes should think twice. Under a Reform government, all these people will have their right to stay revoked immediately and be deported.’

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