Under new plans announced by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, migrants crossing the English Channel will face a ban from claiming asylum in Britain.
Suella Braverman used her first major speech since taking on the role, at the Conservative Party conference, to set out the proposals.
The laws will impose a blanket ban on anyone considered to be entering the UK illegally from seeking refuge and go further than the Nationality and Borders Act that came into force in June.
The announcement marks the latest attempt by the government to curb the growing numbers of Channel crossings after its policy to send migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda stalled amid legal challenges.
So far this year, more than 33,500 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey from France.
“We have got to stop the boats crossing the Channel. This has gone on far too long,” Ms Braverman said in Birmingham.
“But I have to be straight with you: there are no quick fixes and the problem is chronic.”
Migrant crossings on the English Channel surge amid heatwave — in pictures
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The number of migrants crossing the English Channel from northern Europe has reached record-breaking figures as people in Britain are experiencing an exceptionally hot summer. PA -
A lady carries a toddler to a bus after a group of people thought to be migrants were brought in to Dover, Kent, on the south-east English coast. PA -
A group of migrants are brought in to Ramsgate, Kent, on August 1 - the day on which almost 700 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in a single day, a record for the year so far. PA -
It was only the second time in 2022 that the daily figure has topped 600. PA -
A woman carries a newborn baby in a life cradle as she is brought in to Dover on a Border Force vessel in July. PA -
About 3,683 migrants made the crossing on 90 boats in July, the highest monthly total this year. PA -
A warehouse in Dover for boats used by people trying to cross the Channel. PA -
Migrants hold up an inflatable boat before attempting to cross the Channel to Britain, near the northern French city of Gravelines, in July. AFP -
A police officer stands guard on the beach at Dungeness, England, as migrants get off a lifeboat after they were picked up at sea in June. AFP -
A group of people thought to be migrants walk up the beach after being brought in to Dungeness in May. AP -
Migrants on the beach at Dungeness, after crossing the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy in January. Reuters
She said the law “simply isn’t working” and legislation was being “abused” by people smugglers, people making several “meritless and last-minute claims” and — taking aim at lawyers — by “specialist small boat-chasing law firms”.
“This cannot continue,” Ms Braverman said.
“Conference, I will commit to you today that I will look to bring forward legislation to make it clear that the only route to the United Kingdom is through a safe and legal route.
"So if you deliberately enter the United Kingdom illegally from a safe country, you should be swiftly returned to your home country or relocated to Rwanda. That is where your asylum claim will be considered.”
Campaigners condemned the plan as further attacks on “genuine refugees” and said they were in “blatant breach” of Britain’s international obligations under the Refugee Convention.
Nearly 700 migrants cross English Channel beating 2022 record — in pictures
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A group of migrants are brought in to Ramsgate, Kent, on August 1 - the day on which almost 700 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in a single day, a record for the year so far. PA -
It is only the second time in 2022 that the daily figure has topped 600. PA -
The latest crossings saw large groups of people, including young children, brought ashore in Ramsgate before leaving the Kent port on double-decker buses. PA -
A woman carries a newborn baby in a life cradle as she is brought in to Dover, Kent, on a Border Force vessel in July. PA -
About 3,683 migrants made the crossing on 90 boats in July, the highest monthly total this year. PA -
A warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people trying to cross the Channel. More than 17,000 people have arrived in the UK from France in small boats such as dinghies so far in 2022. PA -
Migrants hold up an inflatable boat before attempting to cross the Channel to Britain, near the northern French city of Gravelines, in July. AFP -
A police officer stands guard on the beach at Dungeness, England, as migrants get off a lifeboat after they were picked up at sea in June. AFP -
A group of people thought to be migrants walk up the beach after being brought in to Dungeness in May. AP -
Migrants on the beach at Dungeness, after crossing the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy in January. Reuters
Clare Mosley, founder of refugee charity Care4Calais, said the proposal was “barbaric and unnecessary”, while claiming the government’s speech on Channel crossings was “simply false”.
“There is a mountain of evidence that the vast majority are genuine refugees," Ms Mosley said.
"This criminalisation of them is blatant victim blaming of incredibly vulnerable people, simply for the purpose of grabbing headlines.
“Those who have escaped from the worst horrors in this world should not be risking their lives once again simply to claim asylum in the UK.
"The obvious answer is to give them safe passage. This would break the model of people smugglers and save lives.
“If this government truly wanted to stop small boat crossings, it would offer safe passage to those who have a viable claim for asylum.”
UK's first Rwanda deportation flight cancelled — video
Refugee Action chief executive Tim Naor Hilton said: “It is now clear that this home secretary cares only for keeping people out, not keeping them safe.
“Banning those crossing the Channel from claiming asylum is a blatant breach of the international refugee laws that the UK proudly helped create in the first place.”
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, warned that declaring the country an “asylum-free zone would make the UK a beacon for illegality” and that the government’s behaviour was “doing serious damage to the UK’s international reputation”.
Inside a refugee camp in Rwanda — video
Steve Crawshaw, director of policy and advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said the “inhumane plans clearly undermine international rules introduced after the Holocaust that ensure no one fleeing persecution is refused protection because of how they arrive in a country".
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, called the proposals “deeply worrying and out of step with the majority of the public, who support giving refugees protection”.
Ms Braverman’s “ultimate aspiration” is to get net migration down into the tens of thousands, but she refused to set a target for the next election.
“In the '90s it was in the tens of thousands under Mrs Thatcher, net migration, and David Cameron famously said tens of thousands, no ifs, no buts,” she said.
“So that would be my ultimate aspiration but we’ve got to take it slowly and we’ve got to go incrementally.
“I’m not going to commit to a number. I think we have got to definitely substantially reduce the number of students, the number of work visas and, in particular, the number of dependents on those sorts of visas.”
Protesters condemn UK government as court allows first deportation flight to Rwanda — video
Ms Braverman told a fringe event that she would “love to be here claiming victory, I would love to be having a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, that’s my obsession".
She said it would be “amazing” if the first flight could take off by Christmas.
“If I’m honest, I think it’s going to take longer,” Ms Braverman said.
She told how she wanted to focus on student and work visas, and the dependents they can bring with them.
“I think we have too many students coming into this country who are propping up, frankly, substandard courses in inadequate institutions,” Ms Braverman said.
Businesses such as farms and shops will have to try harder to recruit in the UK rather than relying on foreign workers, she said.
“I don’t buy this line that says the British people don’t want to work in farms.”
Ms Braverman also broke with government policy to call for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
She said it was her personal view and acknowledged government policy was to work within the boundaries of the convention, which is interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights.
But it is another sign of indiscipline within Liz Truss’s administration at the Tory conference in Birmingham.
Ms Braverman campaigned on the issue when she stood for the Tory leadership in the contest won by Ms Truss.
She told a Spectator event at the Tory conference in Birmingham: “I was pretty blunt about this issue in my leadership campaign.
“My position personally is that ultimately we do need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
“That is not government policy, I should say. Government policy is to do everything we can within the convention, within the boundaries of the convention.
“But if that doesn’t work, then we will have to consider all options.
“I don’t think we need to be subject to an institution born out of the post-war era which is a bit analogue in the way that it operates, which has centralised power, which is distant and which is politicised, which is pursuing an agenda which is at odds with our politics and our values.
“I don’t think that’s the direction that the world is going in. That’s not the direction that people called for with Brexit.”
Rwanda prepares for refugees — video
Ms Braverman also said she was “disappointed” by the U-turn on abolishing the 45 per cent tax rate.
“I’m disappointed about the subsequent reversal but I accept their reasons,” she said.
Ms Braverman refused to be drawn on whether benefits should be updated in line with inflation.
“Right now I have to say the question is under review,” she said. “I take on board what Penny Mordaunt has said.”
Ms Braverman said the “Benefits Street culture” still existed in the UK.
“We have got a lot of carrots to get people into work but we have got to add more conditionality and a bit more stick,” she said.
“We are not a cruel party, we are here to support people through tough times.”
