It is difficult to think of another area of government policy that has weathered as much legislative hyperactivity as asylum and migration. I have been chief executive of the Refugee Council since 2020, and I am struck by the fact that there have been four bills that have become law since I started. A fifth one in as many years is expected soon as Home Office officials beaver away under the orders of the home secretary to quickly turn the proposed asylum reforms, published in November, into legislation.

As I prepare to leave the organisation this month, I have been reflecting on how the asylum and migration landscape has changed. It’s clear the rhetoric and intent behind all these new laws has been the same: to deter so-called asylum shopping, to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs, to ramp up removals of migrants, to fix the broken asylum system and, ultimately, deliver control of our borders.

Soon after Labour came to power, there were hints of a change in tone when Home Office officials quietly said they had been told to stop using the language of “illegal arrivals” and instead describe them as “irregular”. It seemed at the time that ministers did not want to be seen to be punching down on those who came to our shores seeking safety, regardless of how they arrived.

But this change didn’t last long. Launching the latest proposed reforms, the home secretary, Shabana........

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