Home Secretary says action is supported by British people
The home secretary says her actions are supported by the British people.
"For a government not to respond to waves of illegal arrivals breaching our borders would be to betray the will of the people we are elected to serve," she says.
'UK must always support world's most vulnerable' - Braverman
More now from the home secretary.
Braverman says the UK "must always support the world’s most vulnerable".
She says nearly half a million people have been given sanctuary since 2015.
She says these include 150,000 people
from Hong Kong, 160,000 from Ukraine,
and 25,000 Afghans fleeing the Taliban.
This bill 'will allow us to stop the boats' - Braverman
BBCCopyright: BBC
She continues by saying "the Illegal Migration Bill will fulfil that promise".
She adds, "it will allow us to stop the boats that are bringing tens of thousands to our shores in flagrant breach of both our laws and the will of the British people".
Post update
Braverman begins her statement by referencing the prime minister's pledge he made at the start of the year.
She says the PM made a promise to the British people: "Anyone entering the country illegally will be detained and swiftly removed."
Braverman on her feet
BBCCopyright: BBC
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is on her feet in the Commons and about to begin her statement introducing the bill.
Government tries to avoid rush of crossings by backdating bill
Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent
The government wants the
measures in this bill to apply to anyone arriving in the UK by routes it deems
illegal from today, the day the text of the law is first published, rather than
after it actually passes Parliament.
The same approach was used when the Rwanda
scheme was first created. That scheme potentially applies to people who arrived
from 1 January 2022, though the scheme was only agreed in April
2022.
An immediate effect like this is something you see at other times, like
variations in tax or duty rates. The reason is to pre-empt any change in
behaviour if people know legislation is coming.
In this case perhaps it’s to
avoid incentivising refugees to attempt Channel crossings while the legislation
is being debated. The government’s target will be to try to get it passed
through Parliament in the coming months.
Heavy rhetoric expected from Braverman
Nick Eardley
Chief political correspondent
Expect some heavy rhetoric from the home secretary.
I’m told she will warn Britons have been taken for a ride with the asylum system – and that “enough is enough”.
She will also say many more “illegal entrants” will come to the UK if the rules aren’t changed.
She’s going to say “they will not stop coming” unless the UK sends out a clear message in new legislation.
Legislation could come with unusual legal warning
Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent
Reports suggest that the legislation will be
presented to Parliament with a highly unusual legal warning attached to it.
Every new bill must include an assurance to MPs
that it complies with the Human Rights Act.
It's reported, however, that today's package may
instead come with a "Section 19b" statement. This is a formal alert to MPs that the proposals
may be incompatible with human rights and therefore could fail before the
courts.
There have only ever been a handful of these
warnings - and they're only added when the government's top internal lawyers
have warned ministers that an idea could be legally unworkable.
What has Labour said?
Stefan Rousseau/PA WireCopyright: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has expressed doubts over whether the government’s proposed plan is legal and feasible.
"Now we've got the next bit of legislation with almost the same billing, I don't think that putting forward unworkable proposals is going to get us very far," he told LBC radio.
Asked if the plan was legally feasible, the Labour leader said: "I don't know that it is and I think we've got to be very careful with international law here.”
Earlier, he said the National Crime Agency should be given the resources to set up a specialist unit to tackle the issue and that more should be done to speed up processing existing asylum applications.
The government intends to give itself power to detain “illegal arrivals” until they can be removed from the UK - without bail or judicial review rights within the first 28 days of detention.
New legislation will significantly narrow the number of challenges and appeals – giving the home secretary a duty to remove “illegal entrants”.
The home secretary will confirm the plans in the Commons shortly – where she’s expected to say the asylum system is already overwhelmed.
It will disqualify “illegal” entrants from using modern slavery rules to prevent their removal.
It will introduce an annual cap on refugees – which will be determined by Parliament.
The government will also set out conditions for UK courts – designed to minimise the impact of ECHR rulings.
Ministers say they cannot be certain their plans are compatible with the European convention on human rights – but insist they will continue to uphold international law.
The home secretary is also expected to warn almost three quarters of arrivals are men under the age of 40.
The government believes they are “rich enough” to pay for their journey.
Most arrivals have a genuine asylum claim, stats show
Callum May
Home affairs producer
Almost all people who arrive by small boat claim asylum.
Because of the big backlog in the system, the Home Office says that most of
them are still awaiting a decision on whether they can remain in the UK as a
refugee.
The small number of claims from 2022 that have been processed already have a
similar approval rate.
Around 10% of small
boat arrivals do not claim asylum. Some are detained for immigration offences,
others are removed, and it’s thought a small number evade the detection of
border officials.
So political talk about “genuine” asylum seekers ignores
a difficult reality: that the government already considers most people in small
boats to have a genuine asylum claim.
.Copyright: .
Plan faces plenty of practical obstacles
Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent
The government is expected to face a number of
serious practical obstacles in making any of this a reality. While it has a
majority in the Commons, parts of the plan could be blocked in the Lords.
If it becomes law, there will be a slew of
challenges to judges. The Rwanda deportation plan was announced 11 months ago - and
it is so mired in legal disputes that it could be another year before it's
clear whether or not a flight can take off.
What's coming up today?
As we've been reporting, we are waiting to hear from Home Secretary Suella Braverman who is set to announce new legislation to try to stop people crossing the English Channel in small boats.
The bill, if passed, would ban people entering the UK illegally from claiming asylum or re-entering in the future.
Braverman is expected to address the House of Commons at around 12:30 GMT.
We'll also be hearing from Rishi Sunak later today.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest developments.
Key terminology explained
As we bring you updates on the UK government's latest plan to stop people crossing the Channel in small boats to apply for asylum in the UK, here is some key terminology you might find useful:
Asylum seeker
An asylum seeker is someone who has applied for “asylum” – known as the protection given by a country to those fleeing persecution, or fear of persecution, in their own country
ECHR
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is an international treaty between 46 states, including the UK.
The treaty is a set of legal safeguards allowing ordinary people to challenge what they deem to be unfair treatment by a government.
The UN Convention on Refugees
The 1951 UN Refugee Convention is a treaty that sets out the rights of refugees.
Refugees have the right to seek protection in the UK under the convention.
The core principle of the convention, “non-refoulment”, means “a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.”
Illegal migrants cost genuine asylum seekers their place - Conservative MP
.Copyright: .
The number of migrants crossing the Channel is "completely unsustainable" and new legislation needs to provide "a much more complex deterrent", Conservative MP Tim Loughton told BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier today.
Loughton described many people crossing the Channel to get to the UK as "opportunist, economic migrants" who are "taking up expensive hotel places from genuine asylum seekers".
He says illegal migrants are costing genuine asylum seekers in need of safe haven a place in the queue.
European Council on Refugees and Exiles calls proposals 'fantasy'
Catherine Woollard, director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, says of the government's proposals - what we know about them - "look like the latest in a long series of costly, unworkable, what we might call fantasy options".
"They are likely to create considerable suffering, and we suppose that's part of the intention."
"But they won't serve as a deterrent," she tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme, "as people will still try to come to the UK because of where they're coming from."
The UK has already one of the harshest asylum policies in Europe but people will still want to come, she adds.
In terms of solutions, she says investing more resources in the UK's asylum system is one option, as there's a high backlog of pending asylum decisions.
New plan will be judged on numbers
Simon Jones
Reporting from Dover
Standing on the famous white cliffs of Dover this morning, looking out to the Channel, the twinkling lights of France are clear to see in the distance.
It’s what’s been happening on this narrow stretch of water that has been causing so much consternation for politicians - for several years now.
Today feels like a big day in the government’s determination to tackle the small-boat crossings.
Both the prime minister and the home secretary have acknowledged that politicians have made repeated promises in the past to bring the numbers making the journey down - but words have not been followed by decisive action.
Both insist this time it will be different. Ultimately though they will be judged on those numbers.
If they begin to fall, ministers can claim progress is being made.
But if they do come down but arrivals remain in the tens of thousands, some voters may conclude Britain has still not taken back control of its borders.
How many people have been arriving by boat?
The majority of people who claimed asylum in the UK last year arrived via the English Channel from France.
A total of 45,756 migrants crossed the Channel to Britain in 2022, according to government figures collated by the BBC.
This is the highest number since these figures began to be collected by the government in 2018.
.Copyright: .
However, it’s worth noting that while we’ve seen a rise in the numbers crossing the Channel in boats in recent years, asylum applications are well below numbers seen around the turn of the century.
Who will the new law affect?
Currently, most of the people who come by small boats to the UK claim asylum on arrival. An asylum seeker is a person who has applied for the right to seek shelter and protection in another country.
However, since June last year it has been illegal for migrants to enter the UK without a visa or special permission.
And the new law set to go before Parliament today will prevent those arriving illegally from claiming asylum or returning to the UK in the future.
Under the proposals, the home secretary's "duty to remove" would take precedence in law over someone's asylum rights.
'A lot of words and not enough action' - Calais councillor
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
Jean-Paul Mulot, a French councillor in the area that includes Calais, says we've seen a lot of words but not enough action or collaboration over the last 20 years.
"We need to work together much more," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
He says he has been calling for a joint border force between the UK and France to police Channel crossings "for years".
"We cannot keep going with local regulation, that cannot really work."
"More money has been poured into the French police by the British government, but they are not working together enough," he says.
The current arrangements need to be reviewed as migrant numbers keep increasing all the time, he adds.
Asked about whether the current situation suits the French, he says people in Calais can see the system is not working and see the impact on their daily lives: "We don't have a camp like the Jungle as it was called years ago, but we still have lots of people there on the shores.”
Live Reporting
Edited by Jamie Whitehead and Jeremy Gahagan
All times stated are UK
Home Secretary says action is supported by British people
The home secretary says her actions are supported by the British people.
"For a government not to respond to waves of illegal arrivals breaching our borders would be to betray the will of the people we are elected to serve," she says.
'UK must always support world's most vulnerable' - Braverman
More now from the home secretary.
Braverman says the UK "must always support the world’s most vulnerable".
She says nearly half a million people have been given sanctuary since 2015.
She says these include 150,000 people from Hong Kong, 160,000 from Ukraine, and 25,000 Afghans fleeing the Taliban.
This bill 'will allow us to stop the boats' - Braverman
She continues by saying "the Illegal Migration Bill will fulfil that promise".
She adds, "it will allow us to stop the boats that are bringing tens of thousands to our shores in flagrant breach of both our laws and the will of the British people".
Post update
Braverman begins her statement by referencing the prime minister's pledge he made at the start of the year.
She says the PM made a promise to the British people: "Anyone entering the country illegally will be detained and swiftly removed."
Braverman on her feet
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is on her feet in the Commons and about to begin her statement introducing the bill.
Government tries to avoid rush of crossings by backdating bill
Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent
The government wants the measures in this bill to apply to anyone arriving in the UK by routes it deems illegal from today, the day the text of the law is first published, rather than after it actually passes Parliament.
The same approach was used when the Rwanda scheme was first created. That scheme potentially applies to people who arrived from 1 January 2022, though the scheme was only agreed in April 2022.
An immediate effect like this is something you see at other times, like variations in tax or duty rates. The reason is to pre-empt any change in behaviour if people know legislation is coming.
In this case perhaps it’s to avoid incentivising refugees to attempt Channel crossings while the legislation is being debated. The government’s target will be to try to get it passed through Parliament in the coming months.
Heavy rhetoric expected from Braverman
Nick Eardley
Chief political correspondent
Expect some heavy rhetoric from the home secretary.
I’m told she will warn Britons have been taken for a ride with the asylum system – and that “enough is enough”.
She will also say many more “illegal entrants” will come to the UK if the rules aren’t changed.
She’s going to say “they will not stop coming” unless the UK sends out a clear message in new legislation.
Legislation could come with unusual legal warning
Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent
Reports suggest that the legislation will be presented to Parliament with a highly unusual legal warning attached to it.
Every new bill must include an assurance to MPs that it complies with the Human Rights Act.
It's reported, however, that today's package may instead come with a "Section 19b" statement. This is a formal alert to MPs that the proposals may be incompatible with human rights and therefore could fail before the courts.
There have only ever been a handful of these warnings - and they're only added when the government's top internal lawyers have warned ministers that an idea could be legally unworkable.
What has Labour said?
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has expressed doubts over whether the government’s proposed plan is legal and feasible.
"Now we've got the next bit of legislation with almost the same billing, I don't think that putting forward unworkable proposals is going to get us very far," he told LBC radio.
Asked if the plan was legally feasible, the Labour leader said: "I don't know that it is and I think we've got to be very careful with international law here.”
Earlier, he said the National Crime Agency should be given the resources to set up a specialist unit to tackle the issue and that more should be done to speed up processing existing asylum applications.
Read more here
What we're expecting from the home secretary
Nick Eardley
Chief political correspondent
The government intends to give itself power to detain “illegal arrivals” until they can be removed from the UK - without bail or judicial review rights within the first 28 days of detention.
New legislation will significantly narrow the number of challenges and appeals – giving the home secretary a duty to remove “illegal entrants”.
The home secretary will confirm the plans in the Commons shortly – where she’s expected to say the asylum system is already overwhelmed.
It will disqualify “illegal” entrants from using modern slavery rules to prevent their removal.
It will introduce an annual cap on refugees – which will be determined by Parliament.
The government will also set out conditions for UK courts – designed to minimise the impact of ECHR rulings.
Ministers say they cannot be certain their plans are compatible with the European convention on human rights – but insist they will continue to uphold international law.
The home secretary is also expected to warn almost three quarters of arrivals are men under the age of 40.
The government believes they are “rich enough” to pay for their journey.
Most arrivals have a genuine asylum claim, stats show
Callum May
Home affairs producer
Almost all people who arrive by small boat claim asylum. Because of the big backlog in the system, the Home Office says that most of them are still awaiting a decision on whether they can remain in the UK as a refugee.
But government statistics show the majority of those who have had a decision made are successful. Since 2018 the figure is 61%.
The small number of claims from 2022 that have been processed already have a similar approval rate.
Around 10% of small boat arrivals do not claim asylum. Some are detained for immigration offences, others are removed, and it’s thought a small number evade the detection of border officials.
So political talk about “genuine” asylum seekers ignores a difficult reality: that the government already considers most people in small boats to have a genuine asylum claim.
Plan faces plenty of practical obstacles
Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent
The government is expected to face a number of serious practical obstacles in making any of this a reality. While it has a majority in the Commons, parts of the plan could be blocked in the Lords.
If it becomes law, there will be a slew of challenges to judges. The Rwanda deportation plan was announced 11 months ago - and it is so mired in legal disputes that it could be another year before it's clear whether or not a flight can take off.
What's coming up today?
As we've been reporting, we are waiting to hear from Home Secretary Suella Braverman who is set to announce new legislation to try to stop people crossing the English Channel in small boats.
The bill, if passed, would ban people entering the UK illegally from claiming asylum or re-entering in the future.
Braverman is expected to address the House of Commons at around 12:30 GMT.
We'll also be hearing from Rishi Sunak later today.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest developments.
Key terminology explained
As we bring you updates on the UK government's latest plan to stop people crossing the Channel in small boats to apply for asylum in the UK, here is some key terminology you might find useful:
Asylum seeker
An asylum seeker is someone who has applied for “asylum” – known as the protection given by a country to those fleeing persecution, or fear of persecution, in their own country
ECHR
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is an international treaty between 46 states, including the UK.
The treaty is a set of legal safeguards allowing ordinary people to challenge what they deem to be unfair treatment by a government.
The UN Convention on Refugees
The 1951 UN Refugee Convention is a treaty that sets out the rights of refugees.
Refugees have the right to seek protection in the UK under the convention.
The core principle of the convention, “non-refoulment”, means “a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.”
Illegal migrants cost genuine asylum seekers their place - Conservative MP
The number of migrants crossing the Channel is "completely unsustainable" and new legislation needs to provide "a much more complex deterrent", Conservative MP Tim Loughton told BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier today.
He said when the government last year announced the UK’s plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, it led to a surge in migrants seeking to stay in France.
Loughton described many people crossing the Channel to get to the UK as "opportunist, economic migrants" who are "taking up expensive hotel places from genuine asylum seekers".
He says illegal migrants are costing genuine asylum seekers in need of safe haven a place in the queue.
European Council on Refugees and Exiles calls proposals 'fantasy'
Catherine Woollard, director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, says of the government's proposals - what we know about them - "look like the latest in a long series of costly, unworkable, what we might call fantasy options".
"They are likely to create considerable suffering, and we suppose that's part of the intention."
"But they won't serve as a deterrent," she tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme, "as people will still try to come to the UK because of where they're coming from."
The UK has already one of the harshest asylum policies in Europe but people will still want to come, she adds.
In terms of solutions, she says investing more resources in the UK's asylum system is one option, as there's a high backlog of pending asylum decisions.
New plan will be judged on numbers
Simon Jones
Reporting from Dover
Standing on the famous white cliffs of Dover this morning, looking out to the Channel, the twinkling lights of France are clear to see in the distance.
It’s what’s been happening on this narrow stretch of water that has been causing so much consternation for politicians - for several years now.
Today feels like a big day in the government’s determination to tackle the small-boat crossings.
Both the prime minister and the home secretary have acknowledged that politicians have made repeated promises in the past to bring the numbers making the journey down - but words have not been followed by decisive action.
Both insist this time it will be different. Ultimately though they will be judged on those numbers.
If they begin to fall, ministers can claim progress is being made.
But if they do come down but arrivals remain in the tens of thousands, some voters may conclude Britain has still not taken back control of its borders.
How many people have been arriving by boat?
The majority of people who claimed asylum in the UK last year arrived via the English Channel from France.
A total of 45,756 migrants crossed the Channel to Britain in 2022, according to government figures collated by the BBC.
This is the highest number since these figures began to be collected by the government in 2018.
However, it’s worth noting that while we’ve seen a rise in the numbers crossing the Channel in boats in recent years, asylum applications are well below numbers seen around the turn of the century.
Who will the new law affect?
Currently, most of the people who come by small boats to the UK claim asylum on arrival. An asylum seeker is a person who has applied for the right to seek shelter and protection in another country.
However, since June last year it has been illegal for migrants to enter the UK without a visa or special permission.
And the new law set to go before Parliament today will prevent those arriving illegally from claiming asylum or returning to the UK in the future.
Under the proposals, the home secretary's "duty to remove" would take precedence in law over someone's asylum rights.
'A lot of words and not enough action' - Calais councillor
Jean-Paul Mulot, a French councillor in the area that includes Calais, says we've seen a lot of words but not enough action or collaboration over the last 20 years.
"We need to work together much more," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
He says he has been calling for a joint border force between the UK and France to police Channel crossings "for years".
"We cannot keep going with local regulation, that cannot really work."
"More money has been poured into the French police by the British government, but they are not working together enough," he says.
The current arrangements need to be reviewed as migrant numbers keep increasing all the time, he adds.
Asked about whether the current situation suits the French, he says people in Calais can see the system is not working and see the impact on their daily lives: "We don't have a camp like the Jungle as it was called years ago, but we still have lots of people there on the shores.”