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The UK government’s border security bill will lead to about 100 more people being sent to prison each year, according to internal government estimates, while criminalising asylum seekers who seek to prevent rescue operations at sea.
Experts have questioned whether the measures will lead to a reduction in overall arrivals of migrants by small boats.
In moves aimed at targeting smuggling gangs the new border security, asylum and immigration bill will give the government counterterrorism-style powers, such as seizing electronic equipment — including mobile phones — belonging to migrants when they cross the Channel into the UK.
It will create an offence of ‘endangering life at sea’, aimed at criminalising people who prevent offers of rescue while at sea — in order to ensure their boat reaches English shores.
The legislation will also make it illegal in this context to supply or handle small boats and related equipment, including engines and life jackets. Those caught will face up to 14 years in prison.
Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, said the bill “only engages in minor tinkering . . . that won’t stop the boats”.
While most of the former government’s Illegal Migration Act, which blocked anyone arriving via small boats from claiming asylum in the UK, is set to be repealed, several of its provisions are being maintained.
These include a ban on migrants claiming protection under modern slavery laws, the power to detain children for up to 28 days, and a cap on the number of people who can come to the UK via safe and legal routes.
While the legislation is primarily targeted at those in the UK who are involved in facilitating people-smuggling operations, it also gives the government powers to criminalise people who have been involved in activities overseas, including supplying inflatable boats.
Officials confirmed that the government could use existing powers to extradite foreign criminals to the UK so they can face charges for crimes under the new legislation, which is expected to pass into law by the end of the year.
They said that the goal of the legislation is to disrupt criminal gangs and ultimately reduce the number of people arriving on small boats to the UK.
Around 37,000 people came to Britain via small vessels in 2024, a rise of a quarter on the 29,500 who arrived in 2023.
People briefed on internal calculations said the Ministry of Justice estimated the new powers and offences would result in around 100 extra people being sent to prison each year,
Colin Yeo, an immigration barrister, said that, while the legislation could theoretically result in that number of arrests, “it seems highly unlikely that would actually reduce arrivals” of migrants by small boats.
“Prosecuting people smugglers who never set foot on British soil is impossible and more would spring up to meet demand anyway,” he said.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, praised the government for repealing much of the previous government’s legislation — including its scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda — saying it had “averted a meltdown, cutting delays and preventing higher hotel costs”.
However, he said he was “very concerned that, by creating new offences, many refugees themselves could also be prosecuted”, which would be “a gross miscarriage of justice”.
