In response to the Home Secretary’s Illegal Migration Bill statement in the House of Commons, Karl Williams, CPS Senior Researcher and co-author of ‘Stopping the Crossings’, said:
‘While the Home Secretary did not go into detail, the measures reported to be included in the Illegal Migration Bill, many of which were outlined in our ‘Stopping the Crossings’ report, represent several welcome steps towards taking back control of our borders and building a firm but fair immigration and asylum regime fit for the 21st century. Moves such as ensuring anyone entering the UK illegally is deemed inadmissible for asylum, reaffirming the commitment to the Rwanda scheme and streamlining the asylum process will protect our borders and help to break the business model of the people smugglers operating in the English Channel.
‘The news that Parliament will be able to vote on an annual cap for the number of refugees allowed into the UK is particularly welcome. When proposing this in our report we suggested that refugee settlement schemes should be limited to no more than 20,000 per year, with changes subject to Parliamentary debate and scrutiny.
‘Deterrence is key. Already 3,000 migrants have entered the UK illegally via the small boats in January and February, double the number we saw in the same period last year. Unless the Government is prepared to face down opposition and implement these measures in full, we could see another record-breaking year for Channel crossings in 2023, overwhelming our already creaking asylum system.’
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Karl Williams is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies and co-author of ‘Stopping the Crossings: How Britain can take back control of its immigration and asylum system’, published in December 2022, as well as author of analysis on the record asylum backlog, available here.
- For further information and media requests, please contact Emma Revell on 07931 698246 and [email protected] or Josh Coupland on 07912 485655 and [email protected]
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, business, welfare, education, housing and green growth, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity.
Date Added: Tuesday 7th March 2023
