Stop The Boats – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Rwanda Bill to become law in ‘major illegal migration milestone’

Final phase of implementing the flagship policy WILL commence

UK government efforts to stop the boats and tackle illegal migration took a major step forward, after the Safety of Rwanda Bill completed its passage through Parliament overnight.

The Bill’s passing means the government can enter the final phase of operational planning to get flights off the ground to Rwanda, pioneering a new response to the global challenge of illegal migration. 

Robust operational plans are in place to ensure a first flight to Rwanda can be delivered within 10-12 weeks, with multiple flights set to take off after this.

The landmark legislation means that going forward, Rwanda should be deemed a safe country for the purposes of relocating people, including in UK courts and tribunals.  

It will prevent legal challenges from being used to delay or halt a person’s removal to Rwanda on the grounds that Rwanda is generally unsafe, or that an individual will be returned to an unsafe country after removal to Rwanda – an act known as refoulement.   

The Bill makes it unambiguously clear that UK Parliament is sovereign, and the validity of any Act of Parliament is unaffected by international law. Ministers will be able to retain the decision on whether to comply with interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights, for example, a Rule 39 injunction.  

Home Secretary James Cleverly said:   ”This vital legislation means we can now proceed with our Rwanda plan and begin removing people with no right to be here.  

“The only way to stop the boats is to eliminate the incentive to come – by making clear that if you are here illegally, you will not be allowed to stay.  

“Our policy does exactly that and plans are well under way to begin flights within 10-12 weeks.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “The passing of this landmark legislation it not just a step forward but a fundamental change in the global equation on migration.

“We introduced the Rwanda Bill to deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs who exploit them. The passing of this legislation will allow us to do that and make it very clear that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay.

“Our focus is to now get flights off the ground, and I am clear that nothing will stand in our way of doing that and saving lives.”

The Westminster government is ready to deliver a first relocation flight and teams are working at pace to prepare. This includes:

an airfield on standby and commercial charter planes booked for specific slots
detention spaces increased to 2,200
200 trained dedicated caseworkers are ready and waiting to quickly process claims
the judiciary have made available 25 courtrooms to deal with any legal cases quickly and decisively
to escort illegal migrants all the way to Rwanda, we have 500 highly trained individuals ready, with 300 more trained in the coming weeks.

Responding to the concerns raised by the Supreme Court, the Safety of Rwanda Bill was introduced in December last year and builds upon the UK-Rwanda Treaty. 

Together, these measures and evidence of changes in Rwanda since summer 2022, will allow government to implement the policy, supporting the wider plan to stop the boats by removing the incentive to come here illegally.  

The new law, which is one of the toughest pieces of legislation ever introduced, builds upon the Treaty, reflecting the strength of the Government of Rwanda’s protections and commitments relocated to Rwanda in accordance with the Treaty. It also:  

confirms that, with the new Treaty, Rwanda is safe
prevents UK courts and tribunals from delaying or preventing a person’s removal to Rwanda on matters relating only to the general safety of Rwanda
allows for an exceptionally narrow route to individual challenge to ensure that the courts will interpret the relevant provisions in accordance with the will of Parliament
disapplies relevant sections of the Human Rights Act 1998
confirms that only a Minister of the Crown can decide whether to comply with an interim measure issued by the European Court of Human Rights.

In November 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the lawfulness of resettling illegal migrants for the purposes of determining their asylum claims, but required more assurance that they would not be refouled.  

The internationally binding Treaty between Rwanda and the UK was announced by the Government in response to this finding and introduces measures to make clear Rwanda will not return anyone to an unsafe country.  

Under the Treaty, Rwanda has also introduced a strengthened end-to-end asylum system, including a new, specialist asylum appeals tribunal to consider individual appeals against any refused claims. It will have two co-presidents, from Rwanda and from another Commonwealth country, and be made up of judges from a mix of nations.

The Treaty also enhances the role of the independent Monitoring Committee, which will ensure adherence to obligations under the Treaty and have the power to set its own priority areas for monitoring.  

But this ‘significant step forward’ remains just one part of the government’s wider plan to stop the boats. Solid progress has been made, with the number of small boat arrivals falling by more than a third in 2023. UK Government work with international partners prevented more than 26,000 crossings last year, as well as helping to dismantle 82 organised crime groups since July 2020.  

Westminster’s new agreement with Albania has cut Albanian small boat arrivals by more than 90 per cent; and we recently signed a ground-breaking deal with Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, marking another crucial step in securing our borders.  

The Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent in the coming days.

In a statement on X, Migrant Voice campaigners said: “You cannot legislate to say that some people deserve fewer human rights than others.

“We remain absolutely opposed to the #RwandaBill, and stand in solidarity and support with all those who have been left more fearful for the future this morning, having come here seeking safety.”

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn commented: “The Rwanda Bill is a disgusting piece of legislation designed to demonise the world’s most vulnerable people.

“This government has done everything it can to make the lives of refugees even harder. What a sorry and shameful legacy to leave behind.”

Commenting on the passing of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, Edinburgh North and Leith MP Deidre Brock said: “I’m saddened by the UK Government’s actions in forcing through the Rwanda Bill last night.

“This shameful bill doesn’t just defy international law, it flies in the face of basic human decency. The UK which once proudly helped pen the refugee convention is now choosing to ignore its obligations. It has descended into gutter politics.

“My thoughts are with all those fleeing war and persecution who seek refuge on our shores. They should be met with empathy and compassion, not hostility. I will continue to stand by them and do all I can to assist.

“We need to look at where the asylum system is failing and improve the safe legal routes into our country, to cut out the people smuggling gangs. Instead, the UK is stooping to their level with something akin to state sponsored people trafficking.

“As Burns put it, Man’s inhumanity to man, Makes countless thousands mourn.”

Sunak: Stopping the Boats

PM Rishi Sunak’s press statement on the next stage of the plan to stop the boats

Last week – yet again – Peers in the House of Lords contrived to stop the Safety of Rwanda Bill.   

For almost two years our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming.  

But enough is enough.

No more prevarication. No more delay.

Parliament will sit there tonight and vote no matter how late it goes.

No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda.

We are going to deliver this indispensable deterrent so that we finally break the business model of the criminal gangs and save lives.

Starting from the moment that the Bill passes we will begin the process of removing those identified for the first flight.

We have prepared for this moment.

To detain people while we prepare to remove them, we’ve increased detention spaces to 2,200.

To quickly process claims, we’ve got 200 trained dedicated caseworkers ready and waiting.

To deal with any legal cases quickly and decisively, the judiciary have made available 25 courtrooms and identified 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 sitting days.

The Strasbourg Court have amended their Rule 39 procedures in line with the tests set out in our Illegal Migration Act and we’ve put beyond all doubt that Ministers can disregard these injunctions with clear guidance that if they decide to do so, civil servants must deliver that instruction.

And most importantly, once the processing is complete, we will physically remove people.

To do that, I can confirm that we’ve put an airfield on standby booked commercial charter planes for specific slots…

…and we have 500 highly trained individuals ready to escort illegal migrants all the way to Rwanda, with 300 more trained in the coming weeks.

This is one of the most complex operational endeavours the Home Office has carried out.

But we are ready. Plans are in place.

And these flights will go come what may.

No foreign court will stop us from getting flights off.

Rwanda is ready too.

And I would like to thank the government of Rwanda for their work in strengthening their asylum system, passing legislation, and setting up a new appeals tribunal.

The next few weeks will be about action.

But whilst I’m conscious people want deeds not words I’m not going to outline now exactly what will happen when.

There are good operational reasons for this.

There is a loud minority who will do anything to disrupt our plan so we will not be giving away sensitive operational detail which could hinder all the progress made to date.

Teams across government need to be able to get on and deliver without interference.

They are working flat out to deliver this genuine game changer.

The first flight will leave in 10 to 12 weeks.

Now of course, that is later than we wanted.

But we have always been clear that processing will take time and if Peers had not spent weeks holding up the Bill in the House of Lords to try to block flights altogether, we would have begun this process weeks ago.

And the success of this deterrent doesn’t rest on one flight alone.

It rests on the relentless, continual process of successfully and permanently removing people to Rwanda with a regular rhythm of multiple flights every month over the summer and beyond until the boats are stopped.

Now I know there are some who will hear all of this and accuse me of lacking compassion.

But the truth is the opposite.

We are in a battle with callous, sophisticated, and global criminal gangs who care nothing for the lives they risk in unseaworthy dinghies.

Nine people have died already attempting to cross the Channel just this year – including a seven-year-old girl.

That’s why we secured the largest ever deal with France to strengthen interceptions on the French coastline.

And because a third of all arrivals were coming from Albania we struck a deal that reduced illegal Albanian migrants by 90 per cent.

Taken together we’re doubling illegal working raids and returning 150 hotels back to our communities.

We got the number of small boat arrivals last year down by more than a third the first time they had fallen since this phenomenon began, and at a time when European countries were seeing numbers rise exponentially.  

But these sophisticated gangs are changing tactics once again.

As well as piling twice as many people into small dinghies and increasing violence against French police they have shifted their attentions towards vulnerable Vietnamese migrants.

Vietnamese arrivals have increased ten-fold and account for almost all of the increase in small boat numbers we have seen this year.

And just as we succeeded in reducing Albanian arrivals dramatically, so I’m confident we will do the same when it comes to the Vietnamese.

President Macron and I have agreed to work with European partners on closing loopholes to enter Europe in the first place.

The Home Office have signed a Joint Statement with the Vietnamese Government committing to deepen our already very strong migration relationship.

And just last week officials from the Government of Vietnam were at Western Jetfoil and Manston to observe Border Force operations on the front line as they continue to manage small boat arrivals.

But we can’t keep reacting to the changing tactics of these gangs. The truth is we need innovative solutions to address what is a global migration crisis to disrupt the business model of people smuggling gangs and save lives.

And that means a systematic deterrent.

The only way to stop the boats is to eliminate the incentive to come by making it clear that if you are here illegally, you will not be able to stay. 

This policy does exactly that.

I believe it should be this country and your government who decides who comes here, not criminal gangs. And I have the plan to deliver it.

So we will start the flights – and stop the boats.

Thank you.

UK Government launches new social media campaign to ‘stop the boats’

Today marks the launch of the latest phase of the government’s global campaign to warn migrants of the consequences of entering the UK illegally

Every year, thousands of people are sold lies by organised criminal gangs who put profit before human life, smuggling people to the UK across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, the English Channel.

The Home Secretary has launched a new campaign that will be rolled out in Vietnam, following successful social media activity in Albania last year which contributed to a 90% reduction in Albanian small boat arrivals.

Using real testimonies from those who regret coming to the UK illegally, the adverts highlight the risks and consequences people face if they turn to criminal gangs and attempt the dangerous journey.

A migrant, referred to as K, shares his reality of sleeping in a camp in Calais for 5 nights under the supervision of armed guards, before taking the long journey across the Channel to the UK. He says: “Never again would I risk my life in a small boat, even if you bribed me.”

An increasing proportion of small boat migrants are Vietnamese, and they are 1 of the top 10 nationalities for migrants crossing the Channel illegally.

The latest phase of the campaign, which will begin today (Monday 25 March), will harness social media adverts on Facebook and YouTube to directly target people who may be considering making dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK.

The social media posts emphasise the consequences of travelling to the UK illegally and the dangers people can expect to face, as well as set out the risks of being indebted to and exploited by the people smuggling gangs who profit from facilitating small boat crossings.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “This is a powerful campaign which demonstrates first-hand that life for people arriving here illegally is a far cry from the lies they have been sold by the gangs on the other side of the Channel.

“Last year, similar work contributed to a 90% reduction in small boat arrivals from Albania, and overall numbers are down by a third, but there is more to do.

“Expanding our campaign to Vietnam, another key partner in our work to tackle illegal migration, will help us to save more lives and dent the business model of the criminals who profit from this vile trade.”

The campaign warns prospective migrants of the reality of living in the UK illegally with no right to be in the UK and no access to public services or funding.

It includes testimonies from Home Office Immigration Enforcement and Border Force officers, who all too often encounter illegal migrants who have been sold into modern slavery or illegal working by their smugglers.

Illegal migrants can be forced to live in inhumane, cramped and hazardous conditions by criminal gangs, with no access to basic hygiene, healthcare or legal employment.

The campaign’s social media adverts direct users to a new website with additional video content from Immigration Enforcement and Border Force officers who describe some of the shocking cases they’ve encountered and their experiences of rescuing small boat migrants from life-threatening danger in the Channel.

This stage of the campaign follows successful social media activity by the UK government in Albania, France and Belgium, and is the latest step in the UK’s efforts to work jointly with countries across the world to tackle the global migration crisis.

Similar campaigns are also being considered for other priority countries.

UK and Vietnamese authorities already work closely to prevent illegal journeys to the UK and remove those with no right to be here.

Senior officials from the UK and Vietnam are due to meet in London on 17 April to discuss working in even closer partnership on migration issues.

New tech partnership with social media to ‘stop the boats’

Partnership with social media companies to clamp down on people smugglers’ operations online
Illegal crossings remain down on last year and returns are at their highest level since 2019
Extra funding and resources for law enforcement to tackle harmful content

A voluntary partnership between social media companies and government will accelerate action to tackle people smuggling content online, such as criminals sharing information about illegal Channel crossings, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced today [Sunday 6th August].

It comes as new figures show the government continues to make progress on the Prime Minister’s plan to stop the boats: crossings remain down on last year, the legacy asylum backlog has been reduced by a third since December 2022, and enforced returns of people with no right to be in the UK are at their highest level since 2019.

While figures from the NCA show that over 90% of online content linked to people smuggling is taken down when social media companies are notified, the partnership between tech firms and government will drive forward efforts to clamp down on the tactics being used by criminal gangs who use the internet to lure people into paying for crossings.

This content can include discount offers for groups of people, free spaces for children, offers of false documents and false claims of safe passage – targeting vulnerable people for profit and putting people’s lives at risk through dangerous and illegal journeys.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “To stop the boats, we have to tackle the business model of vile people smugglers at source.

“That means clamping down on their attempts to lure people into making these illegal crossings and profit from putting lives at risk.

“This new commitment from tech firms will see us redouble our efforts to fight back against these criminals, working together to shut down their vile trade.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Heartless people smugglers are using social media to promote their despicable services and charge people thousands of pounds to make the illegal journey into the UK in unsafe boats.

“They must not succeed.

“This strengthened collaboration between the National Crime Agency, government and social media companies will ensure content promoting dangerous and illegal Channel crossings doesn’t see the light of day.”

The partnership will build on the close working already in place between government and social media companies, and includes a range of commitments to explore increased collaboration.

Under this initiative, social media companies will look to increase cooperation with the National Crime Agency to find and remove criminal content and step up the sharing of best practice both across the industry and with law enforcement.

The voluntary partnership also includes a commitment to explore ways to step up efforts to redirect people away from this content when they come across it online. This approach is already widely being used successfully by platforms, for example around harmful content promoting extremism or eating disorders, where people are presented with alternative messages to displace, rebut or undermine the damaging content they searched for – diverting them away from harmful messaging and misinformation.

Alongside the partnership, the government will also set up a new centre led by the National Crime Agency and Home Office to increase the capacity and capability of law enforcement to identify this content on social media platforms.

Known as the ‘Online Capability Centre’, backed by £11m funding, its work will focus on undermining and disrupting the business model of organised crime groups responsible for illegal crossings and using the internet to facilitate these journeys by intensifying efforts to combat their online activity.

The centre will be staffed by highly trained technical specialists alongside law enforcement officers and will work by building a clearer picture of the scale of illegal immigration material online.

They will work with internet companies to identify more of this material, notifying platforms so they can take the appropriate action. The centre will also focus on developing and building a bank of intelligence around the criminal networks who are promoting people smuggling services online, which will help improve law enforcement’s ability to identify content and in turn help drive investigations.

To harness the potential of new technology such as AI to clamp down on criminals’ content, government will also hold a ‘hackathon’ event with industry experts in order to develop innovative new tools which will better detect people smugglers’ publicly available content online, to help social media companies take it down more quickly.

Government will also intensify the existing work taking place with social media companies ahead of the Online Safety Bill coming into effect.

Once in force, under the Bill social media companies will be required to make sure their systems and processes are designed to prevent people coming into contact with illegal content created by people smugglers, minimise how long this content is available online and remove it as soon as possible once they become aware of it.

Alongside this, the Bill also requires major platforms to publish annual transparency reports setting out what they’re doing to tackle online harms. This could include information around how content around illegal migration is spread across platforms, how frequently it is uploaded, and what systems and processes companies have in place to deal with this kind of content.

The partnership confirmed today also builds on the work of the “Social Media Action Plan”, a voluntary agreement between the Home Office, National Crime Agency and five major social media platforms in 2021 to increase understanding of how organised criminals used their platforms to promote illegal services.

To date, this cooperation has seen more than 4,700 posts, pages or accounts have been removed or suspended as a result, increasing disruption of organised crime groups’ activity, and today’s partnership will drive further progress.

Stopping the boats is one of the Prime Minister’s top five priorities and the government is fully focused on delivering his whole system plan to tackling illegal migration. This includes:

stepping up law enforcement activity, with 50% more illegal working visits carried out in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year
tackling the legacy asylum backlog, which has reduced by nearly a third since the end of December
passing the Illegal Migration Act which will ensure that people who come to the UK illegally will be detained and swiftly removed.

Working with international partners to tackle this global challenge is another key strand of efforts to stop the boats, and since taking office the PM has secured new agreements with allies, including strengthened partnerships with France and Albania which will see 40% more patrols on French beaches, and have resulted in a 90% drop in Albanian small boat arrivals in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year.

No case for routinely offering asylum to claimants from ‘safe’ Albania

A report published today by the Home Affairs Committee has found little evidence to indicate significant numbers of Albanian nationals are at risk in their own country and require asylum in the UK.

However, some Albanian citizens making asylum claims will have been trafficked, and women are disproportionately at risk from this form of crime. The UK has an obligation to support trafficking victims and they should only be returned to Albania if appropriate safeguards are in place.

In 2022, more than a quarter of the 45,755 people who crossed the Channel in small boats came from Albania and most claimed asylum. In one year the number of Albanians arriving in the UK by this route had gone from 800 to 12,301, a rise that was both unexpected and unexplained.

Albania is a safe country, it is not at war and is a candidate country to join the European Union. There is no clear basis for the UK to routinely accept thousands of asylum applications from Albanian citizens, the Committee finds.

However up to June 2022, 51% of asylum claims from Albania were initially accepted, a rate far higher than many comparable European nations. Nine countries, including Germany, accepted no asylum claims from Albania. The Home Office must explain why the UK’s acceptance rate was so high, particularly compared to other countries. It must also explain why the acceptance rate is substantially higher for women (88%) than for men (13%).

Maintaining positive relations with the Albanian Government should also be a key priority to ensure that the UK can return irregular migrants and offenders from UK prisons. Politicians, commentators and others should be careful to show restraint in their language and not single out Albania as the sole cause of the UK’s asylum pressures.

The report focusses on Albania due to the unexpected spike in small boat crossings and asylum claims by Albanian nationals in 2022. However, the Committee finds that it should not be singled out and scapegoated in relation to the UK’s ongoing asylum backlog or overcrowding at immigration processing centres.

The Prime Minister has committed to clearing the backlog by the end of the year and the Home Office needs to set out how it plans to achieve this. The Government should also provide quarterly progress reports, including information on the number of pending claims in the backlog, staffing levels for asylum caseworkers numbers and the number of asylum decisions made per week.

A key driver of migration from Albania to the UK is economic. People are prepared to make the journey, even in dangerous small boat crossings, for improved job prospects and higher incomes. The desire to come to the UK will continue until Albania become wealthier.

Improved awareness of work visa programmes would support formalised migration to the economic benefit of the UK and Albania, providing an alternative to people smuggling gangs and reducing the burden on the asylum system.

Only 325 work visas were granted to Albanian nationals in the first nine months of 2022, with evidence submitted to the inquiry arguing that a perceived difficulty in obtaining work in the UK through legal means could be driving people towards clandestine migration routes.

The Committee finds that more should be done to promote the availability of visas that would fill worker shortages in the UK economy and enable some transfer of wealth back to Albania. This would include short-term or seasonal work in sectors such as construction or agriculture.

Home Affairs Committee Chair, Dame Diana Johnson MP, said: “Such a substantial sudden increase in asylum claims from a seemingly peaceful country understandably raised concerns.

“While it is important that questions are asked and lessons are learnt, it is clear that the immigration picture is not static and will continue to evolve. New challenges are likely to continue to emerge and it is important that the UK improves its overall approach to asylum, rather than focus on one country.

“Changes in migration will inevitably place strain on any system, but the Government must do much more to ensure it can better handle these stresses. Most importantly it must improve the speed of decision making and clear the backlog as we set out in our Channel Crossings report in 2022. We expect the Home Office to set out how it plans to achieve this.

“People will continue to be attracted to the UK from Albania while it continues to offer job opportunities and higher wages. The UK should look at how access to work visa schemes can be improved to fill our skills or staffing gaps, while offering Albanian nationals a route to higher income, benefiting both nations.”

Stop the Boats plan is beginning to work, says Sunak

The Prime Minister’s plan to stop the boats is beginning to work, with small boat arrivals to the UK down by 20% this year.

This is the first time since the small boat phenomenon began that arrivals in the first half of the year fell compared to the year before. This is not a Europe-wide trend – small boat arrivals to Europe are up 30%.

The Prime Minister set out the progress that has been made on this, one of his five priorities, on a visit to Dover this morning. He also confirmed that:

Our French deal prevented 33,000 illegal crossings last year, 40% more than the year before
Thanks to our partnership with the Government of Albania, Albanian small boat arrivals are down 90% year-on-year and we have returned more than 1,800 Albanian illegal migrants and foreign criminals on weekly flights since December
We have increased the number of illegal working raids by more than 50%, and arrests have more than doubled
The legacy asylum backlog is down almost a fifth since December – and we are on track to deliver our target to clear this by the end of the year

During his statement, the Prime Minister made clear that we still face significant obstacles, and we will see more crossings in the months ahead, but he is determined to stay the course and do what it takes to fix this problem.

The Prime Minister also announced the next steps in the Government’s relentless efforts to get illegal migrants out of expensive hotels and into alternative sites, including confirming that the Government has secured two new vessels. These plans will see thousands moved out of hotels by the Autumn.

The Home Secretary gave a further update on these accommodation plans during a statement in the House of Commons.

Read the Prime Minister’s full statement on stopping the boats, as delivered at Western Jet Foil Processing Centre, here.

New measures to ‘Stop the Boats’ in Illegal Immigration Bill

Reforms will ‘speed up the removal of people with no right to be here and enhance safeguards to protect unaccompanied children’

THE UK government has tabled a number of amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill to strengthen it further, ahead of it returning to Parliament next week – helping to deliver our priority of ‘stopping the boats’.

The amendments tabled this week will help to speed up the removal of people with no right to be here and enhance safeguards for unaccompanied children who cross the Channel in small boats.

Amendments also include a commitment to consult local authorities within three months of the bill becoming law to understand their capacity to support people coming to the UK through safe and legal routes, and to publish a report on existing, and any proposed additional safe and legal routes, within six months of the bill becoming law.

Together these will provide greater clarity and ensure progress on delivering our plans for safe and legal routes with an annual cap, agreed by Parliament, to ensure we are properly supporting people to rebuild their lives in the way communities would expect.

The UK will continue to play a world-leading role in protecting those in need who come to the country illegally. However, to tackle the abuse of the system which detracts from our ability to help those in need, further amendments are being made to ensure the UK can better protect its borders.

To speed up removals, amendments will make clear that the UK’s domestic courts cannot apply any interim measure to stop someone being removed if they bring forward a legal challenge, aside from in the narrow route available under the bill where they are at risk of serious and irreversible harm.

Instead, challenges would be heard remotely after the person concerned had been removed. This will ensure that someone would only be able to apply for a domestic injunction to prevent their removal if they were to face “serious and irreversible harm” in the country they were due to be removed to.

Amendments will also make clear that ministers may exercise discretion in relation to interim measures issued by the European Court of Human Rights, and set certain principles under which they would make a decision whether to comply or not.

Alongside the amendment, the government is having constructive discussions regarding reform to the Rule 39 process in Strasbourg, to support greater timeliness, accountability and representation in such cases.

Further amendments include:

giving immigration officers new powers to search for and seize electronic devices like mobile phones from people who come to the UK illegally – to help them assess whether someone has the right to be in the UK
increasing protections around the safeguarding risk caused by adults pretending to be children, by bringing in new regulations that will see age-disputed people treated as an adult if they refuse to undergo a scientific age assessment.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “The British public are rightly fed up with people coming to the UK through dangerous small boat crossings, and myself and the Prime Minister are absolutely committed to stopping the boats once and for all.

“The changes I am announcing today will help secure our borders and make it easier for us to remove people by preventing them from making last minute, bogus claims, while ensuring we strengthen our safe and legal routes.

“My focus remains on ensuring this landmark piece of legislation does what it is intended to do, and we now must work to pass it through Parliament as soon as possible so we can stop the boats.”

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: “It is not fair that people can pay criminal gangs thousands of pounds and pass through multiple safe countries to come to the UK illegally.

“The only way to break the business model of the evil people smugglers and secure our borders is to make sure that if people come to the UK illegally, they won’t be able to stay.

“These amendments will make it easier to swiftly remove individuals who come here illegally from safe countries, whilst re-affirming our commitment to help those directly from regions of conflict and instability.”

These new powers are part of further amendments tabled by the government yesterday to strengthen the ‘landmark’ Illegal Migration Bill, which will see people who come to the UK illegally in scope for detention and swift removal.

The amendments relating to safe and legal routes were laid by Tim Loughton MP, and measures to prevent UK courts from interfering to stop a removal were laid by Danny Kruger MP – the government will support these measures when the bill goes back to the House of Commons for report stage next week. The remaining measures have been tabled by the government.

The amendments can be found on the Parliamentary website: Illegal Migration Bill publications – Parliamentary Bills – UK Parliament

Ground-breaking new laws to ‘Stop the Boats’

Laws include legal duty on the Home Secretary to remove anyone who enters the UK illegally

Earlier this year the Prime Minister made stopping the boats one of his 5 promises to the British people. The ‘Stop the Boats’ – or Illegal Migration – Bill will fulfil that promise by ending illegal entry as a route to asylum in the UK.

This will remove the incentive for people to risk their lives through these dangerous and unnecessary journeys and pull the rug from under the criminal gangs profiting from this misery once and for all.

People who arrive in the UK illegally will instead be detained and swiftly removed to their home country if safe, or another safe third country, such as Rwanda, where they will be supported to rebuild their lives.

Anyone illegally entering the UK will be prevented from accessing the UK’s world-leading modern slavery support or abusing these laws to block their removal. Any other challenges or human rights claims can also only be heard after removal, remotely.

By ending illegal immigration as a route to asylum, stopping the boats and taking back control of our borders the Bill will ensure the UK can better support people coming through fair, safe and legal routes.

The UK will always be a compassionate country, as demonstrated by the nation opening its hearts and homes to those from fleeing from Afghanistan and Ukraine, and under this Bill, Parliament will set an annual cap on the number of refugees settled via safe and legal routes, taking into account local authority capacity for housing, public services and the support communities rightly expect.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “The British people rightly expect us to solve this crisis and that’s what myself and the Prime Minister fully intend to do. We must stop the boats.

“It is completely unfair that people who travel through a string of safe countries then come to the UK illegally and abuse our asylum laws to avoid removal.

“It has to stop. By bringing in new laws, I am making it absolutely clear that the only route to the UK is a safe and legal route. If you come here illegally, you won’t be able to claim asylum or build a life here.

“You will not be allowed to stay. You will be returned home if safe, or to a safe third country like Rwanda. It’s the only way to prevent people risking their lives and paying criminals thousands of pounds to get here.”

The Bill, introduced to Parliament yesterday (7 March 2023), will mean anyone who enters the UK illegally and who has passed through a safe country will be legally required to be removed and the Home Secretary will have the power to enforce it.

Migrants may be detained for 28 days with no recourse for bail or judicial review, and then for as long as there is a reasonable prospect of removal.

In exceptional circumstances if there is a risk that someone would suffer a real risk of serious and irreversible harm when they are relocated to that specific safe third country, they would not be removed until it was safe to do so. Even in these cases you will have a maximum 45 days to remain in the UK before your appeal is exhausted.

The annual number settled via safe and legal routes will be kept under review, and if there is a humanitarian crisis within the world that requires a response, then the UK will step up and offer sanctuary to those in need, as we have done for tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Afghans.

The Bill forms part of the action the UK Government is taking to stop small boat crossings and illegal migration as a whole. This includes:

an agreement with Albania that recognises their status as a safe country
a new dedicated unit to speed up the processing of Albanian cases – since the announcement in December we have returned over 3000 illegal migrants, including over 500 Albanians
ending the legacy backlog of asylum claims by the end of 2023 – we have already doubled decision makers and we will double the number again and we are changing the system to make it more productive
reducing the use of hotels, with the government currently spending £6.2 million a day, by moving asylum seekers to cheaper alternative accommodation
established the Small Boats Operational Command in December, enabling us from January to protect the resources of our Immigration Enforcement teams – as a direct result of this change, we have been able to significantly increase the numbers of immigration enforcement visits undertaken, deliver a 50% uplift in enforcement visits per month and have seen a corresponding increase in arrests
doubling the funding for Operation Invigor, which brings together the NCA, Home Office Intelligence and UK policing to disrupt organised crime groups who are smuggling people from source countries to the beaches of northern France
our joint work with France saw nearly 33,000 Channel crossings prevented in 2022, compared to just over 23,000 in 2021 – since the UK-France Joint Intelligence Cell (JIC) was established in July 2020, 59 organised criminal groups involved in small boats crossings
clamping down on people smugglers, with over 350 arrests made since the Nationality and Borders Act became law
welcoming current collaboration with the French to tackle illegal migration, which includes agreeing further action at the UK/FR Leaders’ Summit

Summary of Bill measures:

Duty to make arrangements for removal – the Home Secretary will have a legal duty to remove people who have entered the UK illegally.
Detention and bail – strengthening detention powers so people can only apply for bail from the Courts (First-tier Tribunal) after 28 days (although habeus corpus will remain).
Unaccompanied children – minors who come to the UK illegally will not be removed to a safe third country until adulthood, except in limited circumstances.
Entry, citizenship and settlement – people who come to the UK illegally will be prevented from settling in the country and will face a permanent ban from returning.
Asylum – people who come here illegally will have their asylum claims deemed inadmissible and considered in a safe third country.
Modern slavery – modern slavery referrals for those who come to the UK illegally will be disqualified under public order grounds under the terms of the international anti-trafficking treaty, ECAT.
Legal proceedings – limiting the circumstances in which legal challenges will prevent someone from being removed from the UK. Most legal challenges will be considered when someone has been successfully removed from the UK.
Expanding the list of countries that are considered safe in law – this will make it unquestionably clear when someone doesn’t need our protection because they are obviously not at risk of persecution in their home country.
Annual number of people using safe and legal routes – committing to resettling a specific number of refugees in the UK every year.

Today we are introducing new legislation to keep my promise to you – to stop the boats.

My policy is very simple, it is this country—and your government—who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs.

The first step is understanding the nature—and scale—of what we are dealing with.

The number of people entering the UK illegally in small boats has more than quadrupled in the last two years.

Those illegally crossing the Channel are not directly fleeing a war-torn country… or persecution… or an imminent threat to life.

They have travelled through safe, European countries.

They are paying people smugglers huge sums to make this dangerous, and sometimes tragic, journey.

The reason that criminal gangs continue to bring small boats over here is because they know that our system can be exploited…

….that once here…illegal migrants can make a multitude of asylum, modern slavery and spurious human rights claims to frustrate their removal.

And the risk remains that those individuals just disappear into the black economy.

That is the reality we must deal with…

And with 100 million people displaced around the world…

….if we do not deal with it now, the situation will just get worse and worse.

People must know that if they come here illegally it will result in their detention and swift removal.

Once this happens – and they know it will happen – they will not come, and the boats will stop.

That is why today we are introducing legislation to make clear that if you come here illegally you can’t claim asylum…

…you can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections…

….you can’t make spurious human rights claims

…and you can’t stay.

We will detain those who come here illegally and then remove them in weeks, either to their own country if it is safe to do so, or to a safe third country like Rwanda.

And once you are removed, you will be banned—as you are in America and Australia—from ever re-entering our country.

This is how we will break the business model of the people smugglers; this is how we will take back control of our borders.

Now, this Bill provides the legal framework needed to deliver this in a way that no other legislation has done before.

This is tough but it is necessary and it is fair.

This legislation will be retrospective.

If you come on a small boat today, the measures in this bill will apply to you.

And this is just part of what we are doing.

I’ve always been clear this is a complex problem that can’t be solved overnight and will require us to use every tool at our disposal.

That’s why I’ve already secured the largest ever small boats deal with France.

And patrols on French beaches are already up 40 per cent.

I also promised progress on enforcement and we’ve increased raids on illegal working by 50 per cent.

I’ve also negotiated a new deal with Albania, which accounted for a third of all small boats arrivals.

And that’s already delivering. We’ve returned 500 illegal migrants to Albania and we are seeing far fewer come as a result.

This shows that there is nothing inevitable about illegal migration.

Deterrence works, and with will and determination, the government can get on top of it—and we will.

Now, this will always be a compassionate and generous country.

It is something that we’re all rightly proud of.

Just look at how we have welcomed Ukrainians, Syrians from refugee camps, and embraced Hong Kongers fleeing the Chinese clampdown.

But the current situation is neither moral nor sustainable. It cannot go on.

It’s completely unfair on the British people…

….who have opened their homes to genuine refugees…

….but are now having to spend nearly £6 million a day to put up illegal migrants in hotels.

It’s unfair on the people who have come to this country legally to see others skipping the queue.

And it’s devastatingly unfair on those who most need our help but can’t get it as our asylum system is being overwhelmed by those travelling illegally across the Channel.

If we can’t stop the boats, our ability to help genuine refugees in future will be constrained.

Full control of our borders will allow us to decide who to help, and to provide safe and legal routes for those most in need.

I understand there will be debate about the toughness of these measures… all I can say is that we have tried it every other way… and it has not worked.

So I say again: my policy is very simple, it is this country—and your government—who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs.

And I will do whatever is necessary to achieve that.