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Border Security and Asylum
22 July 2024
Lead MP
Yvette Cooper
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
ImmigrationAsylum & RefugeesMigrants & BordersEmploymentForeign Affairs
Other Contributors: 30
At a Glance
Yvette Cooper raised concerns about border security and asylum in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
ImmigrationAsylum & RefugeesMigrants & BordersEmploymentForeign Affairs
Government Statement
The Home Secretary thanked the Speaker for support extended to her during her tenure. She outlined that border security is compromised by criminal gangs profiting from dangerous crossings in the English Channel, with an increase of 10% in small boat journeys in the first half of 2024 and a significant backlog in asylum decisions. The Home Office's spending on asylum support has surged sevenfold over three years, leading to immense costs and inefficiencies.
Cooper highlighted critical issues with the Rwanda migration programme, which has already cost £700 million but sent only four volunteers, with projected additional costs of up to £10 billion over six years. She announced plans to end this partnership, saving £220 million in direct payments to Rwanda and reclaiming up to £750 million previously allocated.
The minister criticised the Illegal Migration Act 2023 for being ineffective, leading to an indefinite rise in asylum support costs estimated at £30 billion to £40 billion over four years. She proposed new measures to strengthen border security through a dedicated command structure and increased international cooperation with Europol, aimed at reversing the decline in removals since 2010.
She outlined plans for clearer asylum decision-making processes to reduce backlogs, replacing ineffective returns programmes with actual enforcement actions, and initiating negotiations with European neighbours under the Rome process. The minister emphasised the need for a comprehensive, long-term strategy that addresses immediate costs while reinforcing border security.
Mark Francois
Con
Rayleigh and Wickford
Question
The MP noted the minister’s assertion that the asylum backlog is not caused by inefficiencies in decision-making but by an ideological objection to returning people to Rwanda. He asked how she plans to improve efficiency without this deterrent and whether her strategy could result in indefinite accommodation support for asylum seekers.
Minister reply
The Minister stated that decisions cannot be made efficiently under current laws preventing them, leading to the indefinite stay of asylum seekers. She emphasised that new measures would allow proper decision-making and clearing backlogs by ending retrospective provisions of the Illegal Migration Act.
Sheryle Heaton
Lab
Rhondda
Question
The MP highlighted the significant costs associated with inadequate policies, including £290 million on Rwanda payments and £1.3 billion spent annually by local authorities supporting asylum seekers in hotels. She questioned how these costs would be reduced.
Minister reply
The Minister announced plans to end the Rwanda partnership, saving substantial funds while redirecting them towards improved border security measures and enforcement against illegal immigration.
Andrew Turner
Con
Isle of Wight
Question
The MP inquired about specific actions planned for summer 2023 to address removals and enforce laws, noting that only one person has been deported since last November. He sought clarity on the new border security command's operational structure.
Minister reply
The Minister stated that immediate steps include intensifying enforcement activities over summer, increasing staff redeployment for returns operations, and establishing a dedicated cross-border unit to enhance cooperation with Europol.
Seb Evans
Lab
Pontypridd
Question
The MP questioned why the UK was pursuing the Rwanda partnership despite it being costly and ineffective. He sought details on how local authority support for asylum seekers would be managed under Labour's plans.
Minister reply
The Minister explained that the partnership was scrapped due to its inefficiency and high costs, with funds redirected towards strengthening domestic border security measures and improving returns policies.
James Cleverly
Con
Braintree
Question
Criticises Labour's scrapping of the Rwanda partnership and questions its effectiveness. Asks where asylum seekers will be sent without safe third countries like Rwanda, mentions high costs associated with the previous policy.
Minister reply
Responds by highlighting issues under the previous government, including the highest levels of spring crossings ever seen. Denounces the Rwanda policy as a £10 billion 'fantasy' and notes that those arriving illegally can claim asylum according to current law.
Clive Betts
Lab
Sheffield South East
Question
Welcomes the Home Secretary to her place and inquires about new approaches to tackling illegal working, particularly in high-risk sectors such as car washing.
Minister reply
Agrees that illegal working must be tackled alongside exploitation. Announces an expansion of immigration enforcement efforts through a simplified approach focusing on high-risk sectors this summer.
Richard Foord
Lib Dem
Honiton and Sidmouth
Question
In 2018, the number of small boat arrivals stood at 299. In 2023, last year, the number had risen to more than 29,000. What happened in those intervening five years? One thing that happened was the closure of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, which was introduced by the coalition Government in 2014 and was designed to select some of the most vulnerable people from refugee camps in Jordan, near Syria. Since the scheme's closure, people have chosen instead to make for these shores rather than applying in refugee camps. Will the Home Secretary rule out the offshore processing of asylum seekers or consider introducing a similar resettlement scheme?
Minister reply
I welcome the hon. Member to his new post and agree on the importance of helping those who flee persecution, including through programmes like Homes for Ukraine. The Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme was a form of offshore processing, but our approach is always to look at what works within proper international law standards. We are determined to pursue value for money in all Departments.
Joani Reid
Lab
East Kilbride and Strathaven
Question
What commitments can she give the House that we will be able to rescind our commitments to spend further money on any such programmes, and that no further public money will be wasted?
Minister reply
We are committed to taking a strong, rigorous and robust approach to value for money in every Department. The Labour Government is determined not to waste taxpayers' money as previous Governments have done under the Conservatives.
Kit Malthouse
Con
North West Hampshire
Question
If the number of small boat crossings are higher next summer than this summer, will she resign?
Minister reply
I am keen to tackle the issues without resorting to threats. We must work across European countries to stop boats before they reach the French coast and ensure that lives can be saved while holding criminal gangs accountable.
Josh Simons
Lab
Makerfield
Question
Despite spending of taxpayers’ cash, removals of failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders collapsed under the Conservatives. What is the Home Office doing to ensure that those who have no right to be in the UK are swiftly removed and the rules are properly enforced?
Minister reply
We will set up a new returns and enforcement programme with 1,000 additional staff to work on returns and enforcement, ensuring the rules are respected both where we have returns agreements and looking at individual cases.
Pete Wishart
SNP
Perth and Kinross-shire
Question
The Home Secretary is right to lay into the Conservatives for their shambles of an immigration policy. However, all I am hearing is her being harder on asylum seekers. Enforcement seems to be her priority. When will we hear about safe and legal routes that asylum seekers access to come to this country?
Minister reply
Ensuring that the UK does its bit to help those who have fled persecution is important. We also need to ensure the system works with credibility, enforcement of rules, and tackling criminal gangs causing havoc along our borders.
Question
We have inherited an almighty mess, with asylum accommodation costing £8 million per day. There are even middlemen and women taking advantage and profiteering through the system. How is she going to get a grip of this chaos we have inherited from the previous Tory Government?
Minister reply
The chaos stems from a failure to tackle criminal gangs along the channel, focusing on gimmicks without practical planning in place. We are determined to end asylum hotel use and statutory instrument will save taxpayers £7 billion.
Kieran Mullan
Con
Bexhill and Battle
Question
Where does the Home Secretary intend to send failed asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Syria and Iran?
Minister reply
Under our policies, people in the asylum system will have case-by-case decisions taken on their status. We think that proper returns agreements should be established for those individuals.
Rachael Maskell
Lab Co-op
York Central
Question
What considerations has she given to humanitarian visas for people in Gaza to be reunited with their family, if they are studying in the UK or working in our NHS? My constituent's wife and two children are currently in Gaza; he cannot return home yet. Can provision be made for them to come to the UK?
Minister reply
There are long-standing arrangements for family reunion and refugees. There are different concerns around Gaza. If she has an individual case, she is welcome to raise it with my hon. Friend the Immigration Minister.
Lee Anderson
Reform
Ashfield
Question
When I was in the migrant camps in northern France last year, the migrants told me and some of my colleagues that one deterrent that would stop them coming would be if they were turned back in the channel or sent back the same day. We saw the Border Force agency take a boatload back just last week. Will the Home Secretary now, with that advice, grow a political backbone and order the Border Force to send the boats back the same day?
Minister reply
The hon. Member refers to an incident in the channel where there was co-operation between Border Force and the French authorities that also involved returning people to the French coast. That operational co-operation is important, but I would just say to him that “co-operation” is the really important word. If we want to prevent gangs operating and organising, and prevent boats from reaching the French coast in the first place, we have to work closely not just with France but with Germany and other European countries, and with the countries through which some of the supply chains are operating. It is that co-operation that he and some others in his party have quite often refused, but it will be important and is our best way to stop the criminal gangs.
Toby Perkins
Lab
Chesterfield
Question
In a few short days, my right hon. Friend has simultaneously saved the taxpayer a tremendous amount of money and got more people in the Home Office working on getting the system sorted than in previous years. I congratulate her on that. Does she agree that it is entirely in keeping with Labour values to ensure safe refuge for those fleeing war zones, and, at the same time, to ensure that those who are not entitled to be here are repatriated, saving the UK taxpayer money?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right. There are principles here about doing our bit to help those who have fled persecution while also ensuring that the rules are enforced so that people who do not have a right to be here should be swiftly returned. At the moment, none of those things applies or is working properly. We have to restore order to the asylum system so that we can go back to the principles that, going back many years, the UK has always stood for.
Carla Denyer
Green
Bristol Central
Question
It is a huge relief that the vile Rwanda scheme has been scrapped. I have listened carefully to the Home Secretary’s statement. Given that 94% of people seeking asylum in this country are ready and eager to work to support themselves, and that freezing them out of work leaves them in destitution and means that the UK misses out on tax revenue from their work, and on much-needed specialists and professionals such as the nurse I met recently in an asylum seeker project in Bristol, will the Home Secretary take the advice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and urgently lift the ban on asylum seekers working?
Minister reply
No, I do not believe that is the right approach, because we need to make swift decisions and ensure that the rules are properly respected and enforced. I am concerned about employers who exploit those who have sometimes arrived as a result of criminal gangs, trafficking or smuggling. I do not believe that employers should be able to exploit those kinds of routes and journeys. If people who have fled persecution are granted asylum in this country, of course they should be able to work and to do so swiftly, but if they are not entitled to be here—if they have not fled persecution—and should be turned down and returned to their home country, they should not be able to work in the UK.
Mike Tapp
Lab
Dover and Deal
Question
My constituents take this issue seriously as they are at the very frontline and the Conservatives have left us with open borders. I thank my right hon. Friend for dealing with the matter with such seriousness. How long will it take to put the border security commander in place, and what sort of impact will they have in assisting law enforcement?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend and welcome him to his position. I know that his Dover and Deal constituency has faced real pressures as a result of the criminal gangs and the small boat crossings. We are putting in place the steps for the border security command straight away. We have already begun recruitment not just for the new commander but for additional staff: hundreds of additional cross-border police, security and intelligence officers, and specialist investigators and prosecutors. That work will start straight away.
Gregory Stafford
Con
Farnham and Bordon
Question
I am sure the Home Secretary agrees that this is a moral issue: we must never again see people dying in the channel. However, does she also agree that deterrence must be a part of the panoply of measures that we put forward? I am not clear on what deterrent measures she is going to put in place or—because this question has failed to be answered a number of times—what will happen to failed asylum seekers from countries such as Syria, Iran and Afghanistan?
Minister reply
I agree with the hon. Member that it is devastating that lives are being lost, including children’s. We have seen increasing violence from some of the gangs, crowding more people on to these overcrowded boats, which has resulted in a seven-year-old girl losing her life. The problem with the Rwanda scheme is that it is clearly not a deterrent: four people being sent over two and a half years is not a deterrent at all. There are also no deterrents at all for any of the criminal gangs, which at the moment can operate with impunity, so we have to start by ensuring that the criminal gangs can face justice and that action is taken against the supply chains earlier on—that we have consequences, and that there is a deterrent there.
Adam Thompson
Lab
Erewash
Question
I thank the Home Secretary for her statement, which contained some really quite revelatory points about the state of the finances. Sandiacre in my constituency has been home to two asylum hotels, one of which I was very pleased to see close recently, but the Best Western hotel remains open. This is a huge cost to people in my constituency and across the nation, and it leaves asylum seekers caught in an endless and inescapable limbo. What steps will the Home Secretary take to ensure that we can close asylum hotels once and for all?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend makes a really important point. We need to clear the backlog—not just let it grow and grow, which is what the Conservatives were doing, but clear the backlog so that we can end asylum hotels, which are inappropriate and extremely costly. Having discovered that the Home Office had effectively stopped taking the majority of asylum decisions under the shadow Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Braintree (Mr Cleverly)—who does not seem to know what his own Department was doing as a result of his own policies—I am extremely concerned that that will now take longer to do, but it remains an immensely important thing that we have to do.
Brian Mathew
Lib Dem
Melksham and Devizes
Question
I congratulate the Home Secretary on her appointment and on her statements to the House. Following on from a previous question, but perhaps with a nuance, will asylum seekers—perhaps after initial registration—be allowed to work and pay taxes while their applications are pending?
Minister reply
If people have a right to be in the UK—if they have fled persecution and been granted refugee status, or they have come to be here on a visa through the normal processes—we will of course have them contributing to our country. That has been the case for generations, but if people are not here lawfully— if they have not fled persecution, and should fail the asylum process and be returned—they should not be working in the UK. This is simply about having a swift system so that we can make decisions quickly and ensure that the rules are enforced.
Anna Dixon
Lab
Shipley
Question
I am delighted to see my right hon. Friend in her place on the Government Benches. I am proud that Bradford is a city of sanctuary, and of organisations such as Bevan Health, set up by a GP in my constituency, which works to deliver vital healthcare to asylum seekers who are awaiting decisions, sometimes for over 12 months and in many cases in hotels. Can my right hon. Friend provide an assurance that asylum seekers will continue to have access to essential healthcare as our Government work to clear the asylum backlog, so that in future fewer people will be left languishing in hotels?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right; it is really important that we try to clear the backlog as rapidly as possible. It includes some people who are very vulnerable and may be in need of support. But we actually have to get back to decision making. I thought I would be coming to this Dispatch Box and saying, “Well, what we want to do is to speed up or accelerate decision making.” I did not think I would be standing at this Dispatch Box saying, “No, no, we actually have to restart asylum decision making in the first place, because the Conservatives just stopped it.” It really is far more shocking than I had imagined.
Richard Tice
Reform
Boston and Skegness
Question
Questions the effectiveness of the Home Secretary's policy on smashing gangs involved in small boat crossings, arguing that it is like a game of whack-a-mole due to the profits made from illegal immigration. Suggests picking up individuals and returning them to France under international maritime law as an alternative.
Minister reply
Responds by stating that no one should make dangerous journeys, and criminal gangs are profiting immensely from these crossings. Rejects the idea that it is impossible to go after these gangs and emphasises the importance of taking action on their supply chains, routes, and finances while increasing law enforcement resources.
Aylesbury
Question
Welcomes the Home Secretary to her place and expresses constituents' concerns about re-establishing control over borders and ensuring compassion for vulnerable individuals. Asks the Home Secretary to commit to resettlement routes for those fleeing conflict and persecution.
Minister reply
Acknowledges the importance of strong border security and a fair system that provides support while enforcing rules. Mentions ongoing schemes such as Homes for Ukraine and Afghan resettlement, noting efforts to ensure these programmes function properly.
Jeremy Corbyn
Ind
Islington North
Question
Acknowledges the tragedy of people dying in the channel and the Mediterranean due to fleeing conflicts. Asks if she is co-operating with other European countries on safe routes for asylum seekers.
Minister reply
Confirms work with other European countries, including an investment of over £80 million announced by the Prime Minister at the European Political Community summit, aimed at tackling criminal gang networks in the Mediterranean and addressing injustices that lead to dangerous journeys.
Jonathan Brash
Lab
Hartlepool
Question
Welcomes the Home Secretary and discusses the consequences of the collapse in the asylum system over recent years, increasing pressure on local communities. Asks how her steps will reduce this pressure.
Minister reply
Acknowledges the challenges from chaotic management of the asylum system leading to high costs and lack of time for proper community engagement. Notes that due to halted decision-making processes, reducing the backlog will take longer but is determined to improve the system.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
Welcomes the Home Secretary and raises concerns about border security between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Asks about discussions with Police Service of Northern Ireland and security forces regarding checks on the open border.
Minister reply
Acknowledges the unique nature of the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland due to shared history, but emphasises close co-operation including information sharing which is stronger than with other European partners.
Pam Cox
Lab
Colchester
Question
Thanks the Home Secretary for her statement and expresses astonishment at previous Government's mismanagement. Asks about full engagement of local authorities in improving support systems.
Minister reply
Acknowledges the importance of working with local authorities to improve cooperation, noting ongoing work by the Immigration Minister on this front.
Oliver Ryan
Ind
Burnley
Question
Welcomes tough action from the Home Secretary against small boat crossings and gangs. Asks about speeding up processing of asylum seekers in hotels to end their use.
Minister reply
Welcomes support for her actions and emphasises the need for stronger cooperation with European colleagues, improved decision-making processes, and faster asylum decisions.
Shadow Comment
James Cleverly
Shadow Comment
The Shadow Home Secretary acknowledged the new Minister's challenges and her team but criticised Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda partnership on ideological grounds without necessary consultations, impacting diplomatic relations. He questioned Labour's return plans for asylum seekers from conflict zones like Afghanistan, Iran, or Syria, noting that previous staff redeployment rather than recruitment would not significantly enhance returns operations.
Cleverly highlighted concerns about the effectiveness of the new border security command and its location away from Kent where most crossings occur, suggesting this might exacerbate the small boat problem. He emphasised that the lack of a deterrent policy has already worsened migration trends since Labour took office.
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