In 2022 we saw over 40,000 people illegally crossed the Channel from France in small boats. Tragically, in making this dangerous crossing, some people lost their lives. Most people agree that the current rules and methods are not working well enough, although improvements in security at French ports has made human smuggling via lorries very difficult.
Most of us accept the principles of asylum but also do not like to see it abused as a shortcut to bypass legal economic migration routes. Clearly this is happening to a significant degree with many migrants originating from safe countries and traveling through safe countries. This is putting our whole asylum system under unsustainable pressure, with those who have genuine asylum claims getting caught up in it. It is in no one’s interests to have an ever-growing backlog of asylum claims and to have people stuck in hotels, unable to progress with their lives.
I am pleased to see that our Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has prioritised this issue since taking office. He has delivered the largest ever small boats deal with France which increases UK-funded patrols by 40% and re-establishes the Calais Group of Northern European nations to disrupt traffickers, and which also sets a long-term ambition for a UK-EU wide agreement on migration.
Last month, a new agreement with Albania was arranged so that the vast majority of Albanian claimants can be removed with weekly flights until all Albanians stuck in the backlog are returned home. There is going to be a new, permanent, unified Small Boats Operational Command in the channel with 700 new staff, as well as tougher immigration enforcement with 200 new staff. The government are also planning to double the number of caseworkers and radically streamline the process.
It is really important that in 2023, the criminal people-smugglers business model is broken. The government are promising to introduce new legislation early this year that will make it clear that those who do not have a genuine asylum claim, can expect to be swiftly detained and removed. This is a sensitive issue but it must be addressed.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
4th January 2023
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