Rishi Sunak has said that the “vast majority” of Albanian nationals arriving in the UK without visas will be removed immediately to their homeland under tough new rules being introduced by the government.
The move forms part of a five-point package to reform the handling of people arriving across the English Channel in small boats, including raising the burden of proof for individuals claiming to be victims of modern slavery.
Mr Sunak also promised legislation next year to introduce an “annual quota on numbers” and to ensure that anyone arriving in the UK by illegal routes will be “detained and swiftly returned” and will not be able to delay their removal by “spurious claims”.
“The only way to come to the UK for asylum will be through safe and legal routes,” he told MPs. “And as we get a grip of illegal migration, we will create more of those routes, we will work with the UNHCR to identify those most in need so the UK remains a safe haven for the most vulnerable and we will introduce an annual quota on numbers set by parliament.”
Mr Sunak’s plan to water down measures on modern slavery earned a chilly response from Theresa May, who introduced legislation to protect victims as prime minister.
Ms May told MPs: “Modern slavery is a very real and current threat with too many people brought to this country into slavery. We must do nothing to diminish our world-leading protections for the victims of this terrible, horrific crime.”
And the Refugee Council said the government had failed to come up with a “workable or principled” soltion to dangerous Channel crossings, pointing out that migrants resorted to small boats only because there are no legal and safe routes open to them.
Chief excutive Enver Solomon said: “This government wants to treat people who come to the UK in search of safety as illegal criminals.
“This is deeply disturbing and flies in the face of international law and the UK’s commitment as a signatory of the UN Convention on Refugees to give a fair hearing to people who come here in search of safety and protection.”
Sile Reynolds, of Freedom from Torture, accused the PM of “recycling unethical and unworkable gimmicks”.
“Fast-tracking refusals and removals based solely on nationality or method of arrival is a dangerous, one-size-fits-all repackaging of a policy that risks breaching our international obligations to protect refugees,” she said.
“he rapid removal of asylum seekers, in the absence of adequate vulnerability screening, quality legal advice and access to appeal will risk sending refugees back to unimaginable horrors.”
After overcrowding at the Manston processing centre in Kent threw a spotlight on the government’s expenditure of more than £5m a day on hotels for asylum seekers, Mr Sunak unveiled plans for more permanent accommodation for those awaiting decisions.
The government has identified sites to house 10,000 migrants in disused holiday parks, student accommodation and military sites, with thousands more places to be added in the coming months.
And measures will be introduced – including a doubling in the number of caseworkers – with the intention of processing claims within “days or weeks, not years” which Mr Sunak said should abolish the backlog of cases by the end of next year.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Sunak announced the creation of a new Small Boats Operational Command, bringing together the military, the National Crime Agency and civilian staff to tackle unauthorised crossings of the English Channel.
He said that ministers will recruit more than 700 new staff and double the funding given to the NCA for tackling organised immigration crime in Europe. This should free up immigration officers and enable a 50 per cent increase in raids on illegal working, he said.
Mr Sunak claimed that the global system for providing asylum to those fleeing war and persecution was “obsolete”, with 100m displaced people around the world and hostile states using migration as a weapon.
He said it was “unfair” that some migrants came to the UK by unauthorised routes after passing through other safe countries where they could have applied for asylum and that people were “right to be angry” over the situation.
“It is not cruel or unkind to want to break the stranglehold of criminal gangs who trade in human misery and who exploit our system and laws,” he said.
“Enough is enough. As currently constructed the global asylum framework has become obsolete.”
Mr Sunak said that many of those arriving in the UK in small boats “ are not those directly fleeing war zones or at risk of persecution” but originate from “fundamentally safe” countries.
“This is not what previous generations intended when they drafted our humanitarian laws,” said the PM.
“Nor is it the purpose of the numerous international treaties to which the UK is a signatory.
“And unless we act now and decisively, this will only get worse.”
He singled out Albania, telling MPs that one-third of all of those arriving in small boats this year – almost 13,000 people – come from the Balkan country. While countries like Germany, France and Sweden rejected almost 100 per cent of asylum claims from Albanians, the rate in the UK was just 45 per cent, he said.
Prior to 2021, only a handful of migrants came to the UK from the south-east European country, with the number swelling to 800 last year and 13,000 in 2022. Around 85 per cent of arrivals made claims for asylum, but only a tiny fraction – as few as 1 per cent – have had their cases processed.
Under a new agreement with Albania, UK Border Force officers will be posted to Tirana airport and case workers in Britain will be issued with new guidance naming Albania as a safe country.
Authorities in Tirana have offered formal assurances that they will protect “genuine” victims and those at risk of re-trafficking, said Mr Sunak.
And in a significant weakening of protection for victims, he said that “objective evidence” will be required before case workers class anyone as a victim of modern slavery.
“As a result of these changes, the vast majority of claims from Albanians can simply be declared ‘clearly unfounded’, and those individuals can be swiftly returned,” the PM told the Commons.
A dedicated unit staffed by 400 new specialists will start up within weeks with the aim of removing thousands of Albanians on weekly flights over the coming months until the backlog of claims from the country is cleared, he said.
