Please be assured that I very much share your frustration about illegal immigration which is completely unacceptable. However, it was a tragedy that 27 lives were recently sadly lost which further emphasises the need for this issue to be addressed. Therefore, I am pressing the Government hard to come up with a solution. It is also important to note that the Government is taking the following actions on this issue:
WHY THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN
There are 80 million displaced people globally so not everyone who wants to come to the UK can do so. We prioritise those most in need through our safe and legal routes.
But the system is collapsing under what are in effect parallel illegal routes to asylum, facilitated by criminals smuggling people into the UK. This is deeply unfair because those with the money to pay traffickers can skip the queue over vulnerable people who cannot.
Those crossing the Channel illegally are coming from a safe country – France.
OUR LONG-TERM NEW PLAN FOR IMMIGRATION TO FIX IT
The UK Government is addressing the challenge of illegal immigration for the first time in decades through comprehensive reform to break the whole business model.
At its heart is a simple principle: our immigration system should protect those in genuine and immediate need, not act as a magnet for those living safely in places like France or Belgium.
So for the first time, whether you enter the UK legally or illegally will have an impact on how your asylum claim progresses, and on your status in the UK if that claim is successful.
We are putting this long-term plan into action.
The Nationality & Borders Bill will:
Make life harder for the criminal gangs behind these crossings:
✓ People smugglers could face life behind bars.
✓ Strengthens Border Force powers to stop and redirect vessels and to search shipping containers. ✓ Breaks their deadly business model so they no longer make money.
It also makes the UK less attractive to illegal migrants:
✓ Speeds up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK.
✓ Deters illegal entry to the UK, with maximum four years imprisonment.
✓ Introduce new powers to remove asylum seekers to have their claims processed outside the UK.
✓ A new US-style Electronic Travel Authorisation to slam the door on criminals before they even get here.
✓ Overhauling the way that age is assessed to better identify children seeking asylum and stop adults accessing children’s services, including new scientific methods.
✓ Bigger fines for drivers who don’t properly secure their goods vehicles.
✓ Establish new accommodation centres to speed up the processing of claims and removal of those with no right to remain in the UK.
✓ Illegal arrivals – who could reasonably have claimed asylum in another safe country – will be considered ‘inadmissible’ to the UK asylum system.
✓ New ‘temporary protection status’ for those who travelled through safe countries, with no recourse to public funds, no family reunion rights and regularly re-assessed for removal.
It’s the only credible long-term solution to fix the broken system.
REMOVING THOSE WITH NO RIGHT TO BE HERE
Our ability to enforce immigration laws is also being impeded, contributing to a downward trend in the number of people being removed from the UK.
The Nationality & Borders Bill will make it easier to remove those with no right to be here:
✓ Visa suspensions for countries not co-operating with deportations.
✓ Streamlines appeals which can be used to frustrate removal.
✓ A new “one stop” process so that claims are raised up front to tackle the multiple claims which can frustrate removal.
✓ Reforming our generous modern slavery protections so that valuable resources go towards genuine victims rather than being misused.
Other action being taken:
✓ Returns deal agreed with India and Albania.
✓ Thousands of foreign criminals deported despite Covid restrictions.
✓ GPS tags being rolled out to monitor offenders.
Finally, I have taken the liberty of providing the speech the Home Secretary made recently regarding Channel crossings in small boats which I hope will further reassure you on the Government’s commitment to tackling this issue:
“The number of people coming into our country illegally on small boats is unacceptable. It is the result of a global migration crisis. Just last week, I met my counterparts in the US, who are grappling with similar diplomatic, legal, legislative and operational issues. It is fair to say that in all my dialogues with counterparts and Interior Ministers, including the Polish Interior Minister this morning, similar feedback is taking place across the board.
We would be in a much worse position if it were not for the work already untaken by the Government. We have ensured that the National Crime Agency has the resourcing it needs to tackle and go after the people-smuggling gangs, resulting in 94 ongoing investigations, 46 arrests and eight convictions this year. We have also: reached two new deals with France, putting more police officers on French beaches and introducing new groundbreaking technology to better detect migrants; set up a joint intelligence cell with France to target migrant interceptions on French beaches; introduced new and tougher criminal offences for those attempting to enter the UK illegally; laid statutory instruments to stop asylum claims being made at sea; and agreed returns deals with India and Albania—and had discussions just last week with Pakistan—to take back more foreign national offenders and failed asylum seekers, with more returns deals imminent.
All these measures form part of the new plan for immigration, which I launched in this House in February this year. The remaining components of that plan are currently making their way through Parliament in the Nationality and Borders Bill, and I look forward to working with all colleagues to ensure that it receives Royal Assent as soon as possible. The Bill introduces a range of measures, including but not limited to: a one-stop appeals process; the ability for asylum claims to be heard offshore in a third country; the ability to declare those who arrive in the UK having passed through safe countries where they could have claimed asylum inadmissible to our asylum system, meaning no recourse to public funds and limited family reunion rights; visa penalties for countries refusing to take back their nationals; quicker returns of foreign national offenders; and a new age verification to prevent adult asylum seekers from posing as children.
If any hon. or right hon. Members have concrete proposals that are not already featured in the new plan for immigration, I would be happy to meet to discuss them. My door is always open, particularly to those from the Opposition Benches because of course they attack the new plan for immigration. They have not supported it and they voted against it, not because they are genuinely frustrated at the number of illegal migrants entering our country, as those on this side of the House and the British public are, but because they will always stand up for unlimited migration and free movement. They have always said that and always will do. That is why they have voted against the new plan to tackle crossings, with the right hon. Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) opposing the development of operational solutions to turn back the boats. He even refuses to say if his ambition is to reduce the number of illegal migrants coming here. Can he do so today?
Those on the Government Benches will continue to confront this difficult and complex issue, no matter how controversial or complex others may deem it to be. We will find legislative and operational solutions, and we will treat this with the same grit and determination with which we have treated all the other challenges our country has faced, including leaving the European Union and delivering a points-based immigration system. Let me restate, as I did in February and have done repeatedly, that this will take time. The only solution to this problem is wholesale reform of our asylum system, which the new plan delivers.”