Commons Sense
On Tuesday evening, I was pleased to join my parliamentary colleagues in voting to approve the Government’s Rwanda Bill.
Whilst the legislation still has a way to go, when passed, it will take a decisive first step to end the seemingly never-ending cycle of the UK’s attempts to deport asylum seekers and illegal immigrants to Rwanda, only to be thwarted by the courts.
Having become the route of choice for illegal crossings of the English Channel since November 2018, Home Office statistics show that the number of people arriving has skyrocketed over the past few years, from 8,466 in 2020, to a whopping 28,526 in 2021.
Last year, this more than doubled to 45,755.
These crossings are organised criminal enterprises, run by abhorrent peoplesmuggling gangs, who prey on the hopes of migrants by charging them extortionate fees for journeys across the Channel.
The cruelty of the gangs cannot be overstated, who are only interested in cramming as many people as possible onto small, dangerous boats, (prone to breakdowns and sinking) and getting them just far enough across the Channel that they can be picked up by the border force and taken to safety on our shores.
These perilous journeys have ended in a number of tragic disasters in recent years.
The Government have already taken decisive action to deal with one element of this crisis, in the form of last year’s bilateral agreement with Albania.
This aims to tackle, amongst many other issues, the scourge of organised crime and illegal immigration.
By working together with our Albanian counterparts, we have returned 4,108 Albanian nationals, sending a clear message that those who arrive here illegally; including by small boat, will not be allowed to stay.
This has had the desired deterrent effect: migrants from Albania, which made up the largest group of arrivals in 2022, have fallen by 90 per ccent, contributing to an overall drop in crossings so far this year.
With the Rwanda scheme, the Government aims to extend this successful bilateral approach to small boat crossings as a whole. By relocating illegal arrivals to Rwanda, the plan will act as a deterrent to those considering making the journey, by ending the prospect that they will be able to settle in the UK.
Those with asylum claims will be processed in Kigali, and if successful, given permanent residence in the country.
This will kill the business model of the people smugglers by removing the current perverse incentive structure where illegal migrants are rewarded for jumping the queue, whilst allowing legitimate asylum seekers proper avenues to be resettled, whether in the UK or Rwanda.
The current status quo is simply not sustainable. It is therefore essential that we push forward with this plan to break the criminal stranglehold over the current process, and replace it with a firm, fair and compassionate system to control our borders.