PRITI PATEL’S planned overhaul of the asylum system will undermine the rule of law and access to justice, lawyers warned as a “sham” consultation on the changes closed this week. 

Under the Home Secretary’s proposed system, asylum-seekers who enter Britain via an illegal route would be denied the right to permanently settle even if their claims are successful. 

Those who come through official resettlement schemes would be granted indefinite leave to remain. 

The Law Society of England and Wales has warned that these changes risk breaching international law by creating a two-tier asylum system. 

“The Home Office plans for the asylum system pose a serious threat to the rule of law as well as undermining access to justice and making a mockery of British fair play,” Law Society president Stephanie Boyce said. 

The Refugee Convention, of which Britain is a signatory, states that people fleeing persecution should not be penalised for taking illegal routes.

The Law Society’s damning comments come in response to a six-week government consultation on the Home Office’s New Plan for Immigration, which closed on Thursday. 

The consultation has previously been slammed as a “sham” by almost 200 refugee, human rights, legal and faith groups which described it as a “thinly veiled public relations exercise.”

The groups said the process was poorly designed, confusing and inaccessible, and used questions that are “clearly designed to lead people into endorsing Priti Patel’s plans.”

The Home Office claims the new system is intended to deter illegal entry to Britain and tackle criminal gangs that facilitate crossings, as well as make it easier to remove people who have no right to be in the country. 

However the Law Society on Thursday said the proposals are “not supported by evidence” and “muddle immigration, asylum and nationality laws.”

This has made it “well-nigh impossible” to give detailed responses to many of the consultation questions, the society added. 

It comes as 60 charities urged the government today to immediately scrap separate changes to immigration rules which allow the Home Office to deport non-British nationals for being homeless. 

In a joint letter, the charities warned the “damaging” policy will deter people from seeking help. 

“It puts people at risk of exploitative work, accommodation, and potentially modern slavery, to avoid sleeping rough and putting themselves at threat of removal from the country,” it warned.