UK PM Rishi Sunak told MPs today that his government will end the backlog of UK asylum claims by the end of 2023.

UK PM Rishi Sunak told MPs today that his government will end the backlog of UK asylum claims by the end of 2023. The number of outstanding claims is more than 140,000. His policies to reach this goal include legal changes to the current immigration system, such as criminalising and then removing those who travel to the UK by small boat. Another measure is a new “small boats command” to try and prevent vessels from crossing the Channel. The government aims to recruit 700 new staff to tackle immigration. Sunak also promised to end the use of hotels for people seeking asylum by moving them to disused holiday parks and student accommodation.

Sunak said he had signed an agreement with the Albanian government that would “speed up” the removal of recent arrivals from the country, adding that he would “restart plans” to deport people seeking refuge in the UK to Rwanda. This policy, ushered in by former Home Secretary Priti Patel, is facing a legal challenge in the High Court. 

Speaking to the House of Commons, the Prime Minister stated:

“I said enough is enough, and I mean it. And that means I am prepared to do what must be done. So early next year we will introduce new legislation to make unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally, you should not be able to remain here. Instead you will be detained and swiftly returned, either to your home country, or to a safe country where your asylum claim will be considered. And you will no longer be able to frustrate removal attempts with late or spurious claims or appeals. And once removed, you should have no right to re-entry, settlement or citizenship. And furthermore, if our reforms on Albania are challenged in the courts, we will also put them on a statutory footing to ensure the UK’s treatment of Albanian arrivals is no different to that of Germany or France.”

He added that Border Force officers would be stationed at Tirana airport under the new agreement with Albania. Labour leader Keir Starmer said that Sunak was indulging in more “unworkable gimmicks” and that money is being wasted on the “unethical plan to deport people to Rwanda.” He said, “The prime minister has promised more legislation but the last time the government legislated to tackle the broken asylum system they made it worse. Since the Nationality and Borders Act came into force, crossings and delays have increased. The unworkable gimmicks go on. So do the crossings. We need to bring this to an end.”

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) released a new report with figures and recommendations regarding UK migration. According to the MAC annual report:

• Net migration in the 12 months to June 2022 reached 504,000.
• This is an increase on the previous year by 331,000, but is attributed to newly increased visa routes for Ukranians, Hong Kong citizens, and overseas students.
• Since the vast majority of overseas students will leave the UK after their studies end, most of the rise in net migration is likely to be temporary.
• Whilst non-EU migrants formed the majority of migrants, the EU proportion rose steadily from 16% in England and Wales (2001) to 34% (2021).
• There are specific forms of labour exploitation that make migrants more vulnerable, and for some, collusion with exploitative working practices may be the most rational choice if the exploitative situation still leaves them better off than working in their home country.
• Many migrants may borrow money to pay the costs associated with coming to the UK; a small study by Migrant Voice indicated two thirds of migrants in the survey had gone into debt. 

The MAC report states: “We would caution the Government in becoming too focused on particular net migration numbers, and any change in objective would need to be consistent with the fiscal rules that the Government have in place.” It also expresses “disappointment” at the lack of joined-up thinking across Government with the private sector on how to proactively manage and address labour market shortages. The full report can be found here.

Human Rights Concerns

The current government’s policies on immigration and asylum has prompted human rights concerns from various bodies. A recent report by the conservative Centre for Policy Studies states that Britain should change human rights laws and withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights “if necessary” in order to tackle Channel boat crossings. Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote the forward to the report which has been criticised by a UN body for “factual and legal errors.” The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) questioned the report’s definition of “illegal” for people seeking asylum, the same term Braverman uses in official Home Office documents. The UNHCR stated:

“There is no such thing as an ‘illegal asylum seeker’. The indefinite detention of those seeking asylum, based solely on their mode of arrival, would punish people in need of help and protection and constitute a clear breach of the United Kingdom’s obligations under the 1951 refugee convention.

A blanket ban on claiming asylum in the UK for those arriving on small boats would also breach the refugee convention, if this results in refugees having no means to establish their status and places them at risk of enforced return to their own countries. Access to asylum should never be contingent on mode of arrival or nationality. The only way to establish whether people are refugees is through a fair and efficient determination of their claims.”

Braverman has been criticised previously for her language, having called the people arriving by boat to the UK as an “invasion.”

The Council of Europe human rights commissioner, Dunja Mijatovi?, has also raised concerns, finding “significant regression” in the UK’s protection of rights of refugees and those seeking asylum. A report released last week states that:

“The Commissioner observes a high level of anxiety among stakeholders about human rights protection in the UK, in view of the significant impact of recent and proposed legislation, an increasingly antagonistic attitude by the UK government towards human rights, and verbal attacks on lawyers and organisations defending human rights. 

The Commissioner finds that the Bill of Rights Bill, which would repeal and replace the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), would weaken human rights protections by encouraging a divergence in interpretations by UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights of rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and by limiting the bringing of human rights cases to UK courts. She calls on the UK government to ensure that any further reform of the domestic human rights system leads to a strengthening, rather than a weakening, of protections."

On asylum and immigration more specifically, the report details:

“The Commissioner highlights numerous issues of concern relating to the UK's existing policies towards refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, including the newly introduced inadmissibility rules for asylum claims, the possibility of removing persons to Rwanda, the criminalisation of asylum seekers arriving irregularly, and the differential treatment of refugees based on the manner of their arrival. She also warns against the use of practices that would result in push backs of people crossing the Channel.

The Commissioner observes that the lack of an effective mechanism to allow persons staying in France to make a claim with the UK authorities for protection or entry on other grounds is an important factor in the current resort to dangerous, irregular crossings of the Channel. The Commissioner makes a range of recommendations to address these and other issues to ensure the UK's overall approach to asylum and migration fully complies with its international obligations."

The full report can be found here.

(Sources: The Guardian, Electronic Immigration Network, Migration Advisory Committee)