‘Asylum shopping’ migrants abuse the UK’s generosity

‘I heard how gangs often look to exploit migrants by pushing them towards the grey or criminal economy’

All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we must confront it as it is. As one of the safest and richest countries, the UK has an obligation to provide sanctuary to some of the many who flee war and persecution. We have a proud history of fulfilling this duty, with the late 20th century punctuated by the arrivals of Hungarians fleeing Soviet oppression during the winter of 1956, Czechs escaping the Soviet invasion of 1968, and the expelled Ugandan Asians seeking refuge in the 1970s. My own children are the great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Time and again, the UK has opened its doors to those facing their darkest hour.

In response to the latest geopolitical upheaval the British public have, without hesitation, opened their arms to those in desperately bleak situations. I have seen this up close: first when I co-ordinated the Afghan resettlement scheme as communities secretary, and more recently as my inbox flooded with messages from my neighbours offering to support the Ukrainian family I, like thousands of others, hosted this year.

However, this generosity is being abused by migrants skipping the queue in small boat crossings and overwhelming our immigration system.

Last week I travelled to Dover to hear the damage that hundreds of daily arrivals are having on communities on the South Coast. Their stories of strained public services and community tensions will be familiar to many. I heard how gangs will often look to exploit migrants, first of all by facilitating dangerous Channel crossings, but then also pushing them towards the criminal or grey economy.

For too long, these communities’ cries for help have been unanswered by politicians and dismissed outright by self-righteous liberals blissfully unaffected by it all. Try speaking to the resident in Dover who was threatened in their own home, and tell them their concerns are unfounded.

Successive years of record numbers crossing the Channel have pushed our immigration system to breaking point and beyond. Last week, the Manston processing centre, created temporarily to support those we had saved at sea, surged in numbers – and calm weather in the weeks ahead will likely trigger yet more crossings. Almost every one of these individuals has had their life saved by British authorities, and all have been clothed, fed and given medical treatment. Accommodating these record numbers is challenging, and a chronic shortage of acceptable accommodation has forced the Government to procure expensive, and frequently unsuitable, hotels at an unacceptable cost to the taxpayer.

Human decency has to be accompanied by hard-headed common sense: illegal immigrants are not entitled to luxury hotels. Conditions in the UK are almost always better than in neighbouring countries, which helps explain why the UK is a destination of choice for economic migrants on the Continent “asylum shopping”.

“Hotel Britain” must end, and be replaced with simple, functional accommodation that does not create an additional pull factor.

Ultimately, the debate needs to shift from managing the symptoms of the problems – procuring hotels – to the cure: stopping economic migrants from making the journey. Robust deterrence towards those trying to cheat the process, and compassion towards those who need our help, must be paramount.

This starts by continuing to invest in our relationship with France – and the Prime Minister has made that a priority in his first conversations with President Macron. Our joint work with France results in nearly half the boats being intercepted, but we must ratchet up our ambition. With greater co-ordination, we can dismantle the evil criminal gangs masterminding these crossings.

We will continue to work to deliver the landmark Rwanda partnership and explore similar agreements with other countries. Those coming from safe counties such as Albania – whose citizens account for 30 per cent of illegal crossings this year – must see that crossing the Channel in small boats is not a path to a life here.

We must ensure our modern slavery laws cannot be exploited by illegitimate claimants. The number claiming to be a victim is at an all-time high. Last-minute claims clog the system, and of those who apply, 90 per cent are approved. We are committed to protecting victims and bringing perpetrators to justice, but we must be able to tackle the abuses of our system. We will be compassionate, but not naive.

Justice must be dispensed quickly if we are to break the business model of the smugglers. Currently, those with illegitimate claims know that if they can make it to Britain and claim asylum, they are unlikely ever to be removed. That is why we are taking measures to restore deterrence. We will bust the backlog of asylum claims by cutting red tape and rolling out innovations to boost the productivity of officials.

We are expediting the removal of individuals with no right to be here by agreeing tailored bilateral returns agreements with partners like Albania, elevating it to a key priority for our foreign policy. Controlling our borders is a priority of any government, but particularly a Conservative government that believes in the nation state, security and sovereignty. The public rightly demand that their Government grips the illegal immigration crisis with actions and not words – and that is what the Home Secretary and I are determined to deliver.