Make migration your No1 priority, Sunak to urge European leaders

RISHI Sunak will today tell European leaders to make stopping illegal migration a top priority.

The Prime Minister will use a meeting of the new European Political Community to urge closer co-operation in securing the continent’s borders.

He will open negotiations on an agreement to return illegal immigrants to Moldova, where the summit is being held, and confirm that a similar deal with Georgia has come into force.

Mr Sunak will also launch a partnership, including intelligencesharing with Bulgaria, aimed at destroying the business model of the organised criminal gangs behind the people- smuggling trade. The Eastern European country is at the crossroads of two major routes as well as a key entry point for the dinghies used to cross the English Channel.

A roundtable discussion will be led by the PM where he will stress the need to deal with immigration crime as well as supporting countries suffering from Russian aggression including not only Ukraine but also Moldova – which is now home to thousands of refugees who have fled the war.

Mr Sunak, who has made ‘stopping the boats’ before next year’s general election one of his five pledges to voters, said last night: ‘Europe is facing unprecedented threats at our borders.

‘From Putin’s utter contempt of other countries’ sovereignty to the rise in organised immigration crime across our continent.

‘We cannot address these problems without Europe’s governments and institutions working closely together.

‘The security of our borders must be top of the agenda. The UK will be at the heart of this international effort to stop the boats.’

The EPC was proposed by French president Emmanuel Macron a year ago to improve cooperation between countries both within and outside of the EU, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and met for the first time in Prague last October during Liz Truss’s brief premiership.

Britain will host a meeting of the forum in a year’s time, following one in Spain this autumn.

Mr Sunak will today discuss with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez how they can keep up the momentum on tackling illegal migration. The PM has already agreed a major deal with France to stop small boats and secured a returns agreement with Albania that has led to more than 1,000 Albanians being sent home.

His flagship Illegal Migration Bill will prevent anyone who has entered the UK without authorisation from claiming asylum, and will instead mean they are detained then removed.

However, Mr Sunak will tell today’s gathering of almost 50 European leaders about the ‘devastating humanitarian impact’ of illegal migration, No 10 said, and will ‘emphasise the need for all countries to grip this problem with a lawful and compassionate approach’.

The number of small boat migrants who have crossed the Channel so far this year stands at just over 7,600 – down 21 per cent on the same period last year.

Official Home Office figures show 7,610 arrivals since January 1 – excluding any unconfirmed number who reached Britain yesterday – compared with 9,577 at the same point last year.

Officials say it is too early to tell whether the decline is simply down to weather conditions.

But if numbers are still down in one month’s time, ministers may be able to claim that tough-talking policies combined with increased police activity against traffickers is beginning to have a deterrent effect.

By the end of June last year, there had been more than 12,700 arrivals. The department’s official projections set out a worst-case scenario of 85,000 migrants crossing the Channel this year, after a record 45,700 reached UK shores during 2022.

A crucial ruling on the Rwanda asylum deal is due from the Court of Appeal within weeks.

If judges decide the policy is lawful – throwing out arguments made by the Public and Commercial Services trade union, a number of migrant charities and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – there is a possibility that removals flights to Africa could begin soon after.

Home Office sources have indicated that charter flights to Kigali could begin even before the launch of any further appeal to the Supreme Court.

Yesterday it emerged that the PCS union, which represents 16,000 Home Office workers, has threatened industrial action if they lose in the courts.

‘Unprecedented threats’