After a summer recess dominated by headlines about Reform UK’s hardline immigration proposals and protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, the home secretary returned to parliament seeking to wrest back control of the narrative.

Yvette Cooper has announced a flurry of tough asylum measures including suspending refugee family reunion applications, and even floated the idea that refugees could be moved out of hotels and into warehouses instead.

She promised MPs that ministers were doing their bit to help those fleeing persecution, in “the British way”. But will ministers be caught between its promises of compassion and tough talk of migration?

What has happened to the refugee family reunion process?

The government has temporarily suspended new refugee family reunion applications as ministers want to prove that refugees will be covered by the same family migration rules and conditions “as everyone else”.

People who have had their asylum claims accepted will now have to apply through the standard family scheme that applies to UK citizens, who are required to show that they have a joint income of at least £29,000 a year before they are allowed to bring a partner to the UK.

Cooper said changes will be made to the family reunion routes process, and will eventually become law in spring.

Campaigners have warned this is one of the only safe, legal routes available for refugees fleeing persecution or war to be reunited with their partner or child. Some MPs have highlighted remarks Cooper made four years ago, when she said: “If there are not safe, legal routes for family reunion we end up with more people driven into the hands of dangerous criminal gangs.”

Will there be an end to hotel accommodation for asylum seekers?

The government has vowed to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029. At least 32,000 asylum seekers currently occupy them at a huge cost to the taxpayer. Ministers say they will need to be closed “as swiftly as possible” but in “an orderly and sustainable manner”. Government insiders say they expect five more hotels housing asylum seekers to close by the end of the year, with more to follow in the new year.

As of Monday, single adults who are granted asylum will be given 28 days to move out of their temporary housing. Ministers have reduced the existing 56-day timeframe to help reduce the number of people staying in hotels. But it could push more asylum seekers on to the streets.

Cooper went further on Tuesday after her measures dominated the front pages. She suggested asylum seekers could be housed in warehouses. The prime minister’s spokesperson said the government was indeed looking at “using modular buildings on industrial sites, ex-military sites”. A timeline has not been outlined for this.

How has the asylum appeals system changed?

Judges will no longer have power to hear appeals made by asylum seekers. Instead, the government has set up a new independent body “staffed by professionally trained adjudicators” to ensure high standards. It is hoped that this will operate in a similar way to the magistrates system, with trained members of the public hearing cases under the supervision of legal experts. Ministers hope this will speed up the process of asylum appeals.

Will asylum seekers be returned to France?

Ministers have been referring to the UK-France agreement as a great example of how the government is taking action to “smash the gangs” by returning a small number of asylum seekers who arrive via small boats to France.

Cooper said the first returns would begin “later this month”, as the first detentions of asylum seekers on small boats took place the day after the deal was ratified in August. Although this is a pilot scheme, ministers hope they can continue to develop and expand it.

Why is there a crackdown on foreign students?

Tens of thousands of foreign students have been contacted by the Home Office to say they will be deported if they overstay their visas. The government launched the campaign in hope of cutting the numbers of students making asylum claims. In the year to June 2025, 431,725 visas were granted to foreign students who had come to the UK to study.

What are the political risks?

The government wants to press ahead with these tough measures to take on Reform UK. Starmer told his cabinet ministers that migration is a “central issue” to his government and he understands the “frustration people feel at the level of illegal crossings and the sight of asylum hotels in their communities”.

Despite ministers’ tough talk, the Conservatives immediately said Starmer “doesn’t have the stomach” to take stronger action. Farage did not directly respond to the measures, but the fact that the prime minister had to spend a lot of his media round on Monday attacking Farage spoke volumes.

Labour MPs and refugee charities have swiftly criticised the measures, particuarly the suspension of the refugee family reunion process. The government has been accused of pushing children “into the arms of people smugglers”.