Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely today welcomed the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill.
The Island MP is backing the Government’s Bill to deal with the increase of illegal immigrants entering the UK by crossing the channel in small boats.
Mr Seely said of the Bill: “It’s right that the Government is taking action on small boats. The current system is unsustainable, causes harm to those that are smuggled, undermines our borders and creates excessive expense for taxpayers.
“Whilst a vocal minority may object, I strongly believe that the overwhelming majority of people will understand the importance of this Bill and support it."
The Illegal Migration Bill is designed to establish a scheme through which anyone illegally arriving in the UK can be removed to their home country or to a safe third country in order to have their asylum claim processed.
The Government has said that the Bill will deter illegal entry to the UK, save lives by breaking people smugglers’ business model, remove people with no right to remain in the country and set an annual cap on the number of people admitted to the UK for resettlement.
In 2022, 45,755 people crossed the channel illegally in small boats. Of these arrivals, 90% have, so far, applied for asylum. This includes 12,561 arrivals from Albania - the nationality most represented in illegal small boat arrivals - the majority of whom are young, male economic migrants: As of 2021, 74% of illegal immigrants were adult males under the age of 40.
In January of this year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made stopping the small boats one of his five pledges to the British people, promising: “we will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed.”
The Government has already taken steps to tackle this increase in illegal immigration: funding for the National Crime Agency (NCA) to tackle people smuggling has been doubled; the Government has increased enforcement raids by 50% and has signed a deal with the Albanian Government to return illegal arrivals coming from the Balkan nation.
The Illegal Migration Bill, however, represents the legislative part of Prime Minister Sunak’s plan to stop the illegal arrival of small boats. Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who has taken charge of the Bill’s passage, promised parliament that the Illegal Migration Bill “will allow us to stop the boats that are bringing tens of thousands to our shores in flagrant breach of both our laws and the will of the British people.”
Braverman continued to address the broader context, saying: “The small boats problem is part of a larger global migration crisis. In the coming years, developed countries will face unprecedented pressure levels from ever greater numbers of people leaving the developing world for places like the UK.
“Unless we act today, the problem will be worse tomorrow. And the problem is already unsustainable.”
Illegal immigration is estimated to cost British taxpayers £3 billion a year. By the end of 2022, the backlog of asylum seekers had increased to 166,261, with the estimated public cost of providing asylum seekers with hotel accommodation estimated at £6 million a day.
Many asylum seekers are economic migrants who have come from conflict-free countries. The majority of these migrants travel through conflict-free EU nations – in which they are entitled to seek asylum - in order to reach Britain.
The Illegal Migration Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons yesterday evening.
