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This week, the government announced an overhaul of the UK's asylum system with the stated aim

of making Britain look a lot less attractive to those planning to make their way across

the channel on a small boat

or outstay their visa if already here. A raft of proposals include ending a refugee's

effective right to stay in the country indefinitely, a quicker way of deporting those who

fail in their asylum applications, and a less sympathetic approach to refugee families. Denmark has been

held up in recent days as an example of a country with much tougher asylum policies. So are

we in the UK now part of a wider European trend of clamping down on asylum seekers?

And what can we learn from the success or failure of other asylum

policies across the continent? Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out.

First, let's look at what these proposals are and who they're aimed at, other than the voters,

that is. I'm joined by Dr Madeline Sumption,, whose director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University. Madeline, can you remind us, please, briefly, what these new proposals of the governments are, the ones that really stand out? Well, there's a lot in there, but I would say the key things are, firstly, that the government wants to have a more temporary status for refugees.

So they will be reassessed more often to see if they can be returned to their country of origin.

And they will be in that temporary status for up to 20 years, although it may be shorter for some people.

For example, if they switch into work or study.

The second thing they want to do is reduce the amount of financial support that asylum seekers get,

particularly people who have the right to work while they're waiting for their asylum decision,

and then potentially also reducing support for refugees who have been granted status as well.

And then the third major thing they want to do is reduce the scope of the legal

protections that people have that enable them either to get legal status or to challenge their

removal from the UK. And they also want to make all of these legal decisions more quickly

...