Rishi Sunak is to announce new laws stopping people entering the UK on small boats from claiming asylum, with the prime minister saying: “Make no mistake, if you come here illegally, you will not to be able to stay.”
The prime minister and his home secretary will launch the legislation this week, as part of the government’s drive to “tackle illegal migration”, one of its main priorities.
The new law, provisionally called the illegal migration bill, is expected to try to make asylum claims inadmissible from those who travel to the UK on small boats. It would involve a duty being placed on the home secretary to remove “as soon as reasonably practicable”, to Rwanda or a “safe third country”, anyone who arrives on a small boat. Those who arrive will also be prevented from claiming asylum while in the UK, with plans to also ban them from returning once removed.
The government’s attempts to deport people to Rwanda have been blocked by the courts so far under human rights laws, and human rights campaigners have heavily criticised the plans. So far no flights carrying people to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, have departed.
However, the government appears to believe it has found a way round the legal blocks, by applying a “rights brake” in the legislation. There are no details as yet on how this would get around the UK’s obligations under the European convention on human rights.
Sunak and the home secretary, Suella Braverman, are heading to France on Friday for a summit with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, where the small boats are expected to be discussed.
Over the weekend, Sunak told the Mail on Sunday: “Since becoming prime minister, I have made the issue of illegal migration one of my top five priorities, pledging to stop the boats once and for all.
“Illegal migration is not fair on British taxpayers, it is not fair on those who come here legally and it is not right that criminal gangs should be allowed to continue their immoral trade. I am determined to deliver on my promise to stop the boats. So make no mistake, if you come here illegally, you will not to be able to stay.”
Braverman told the Sun on Sunday: “Enough is enough. The British people want this solved. They are sick of tough talk and inadequate action. We must stop the boats. That’s why myself and the prime minister have been working flat out to bring forward necessary and effective laws which will tackle this problem, once and for all.”
Labour responded to the new plans by criticising Braverman’s efforts so far. A party source said: “It’s a joke for the home secretary to say enough is enough when it is her department and her government’s failure that has led to skyrocketing Channel crossings, a soaring asylum backlog and total collapse in asylum decisions while criminal gangs put lives at risk.
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“She’s right though: the public have had enough, enough of this incompetent Conservative government and their failing ideas.”
The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, was challenged on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday about the lack of alternative safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to come to the UK, aside from those applying from Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong, from Syria or other war-torn areas of the world. He said he thought “more routes” would be made available.
The latest Home Office figures show 2,950 people have crossed the Channel on small boats already this year.
Meanwhile, a group of 12 trade unions released a joint letter accusing the government of complicity in the violent attacks on hotels housing refugees. “The government is complicit in these attacks,” said the group, which included the FBU and GMB unions. “The Rwanda policy does not make sense as a means of stopping small boat crossings – and it is failing on its own terms – but it fits with a long-running campaign of rhetoric and demonisation.”
