“Our tough but fair approach will stop the boats” - Rachel has said following the passing of new laws to crackdown on illegal migration.
The Illegal Migration Act, which Redditch’s MP has backed at every stage on its journey through Parliament, will remove any incentive for someone to come to the UK illegally.
More than 45,000 people illegally crossed the English Channel in small boats last year, with many of those originating from or travelling through safe countries. Rachel believes that is unfair on those who come here legally and unfair on the British people who foot the bill.
That’s why Rachel voted for tough new laws so that, if someone enters the UK illegally, they will be detained immediately and removed to a safe country within weeks – with no ability to make spurious and late claims to frustrate removal.
The Illegal Migration Act will do this by:
- Placing a legal duty on the Home Secretary to remove illegal migrants. For the first time, if you come here illegally, the Government will have no choice but to remove you to your home country if it is safe, or a safe third country.
- Increasing powers to detain and swiftly remove illegal migrants. If you come here illegally, the Government will be able to detain you for 28 days without recourse to bail from the Immigration Tribunal or judicial review and will be able to detain you for as long as there is a reasonable prospect of removal.
- Ending illegal entry as a route to modern slavery protection. If you come here via a small boat or any other illegal way from a safe country, you will have no recourse to our modern slavery system. An exception to delay removal will be if law enforcement requests a stay on removal to allow someone to support an investigation or prosecution against a trafficker. This will mean that our world-leading modern slavery regime will no longer be open to abuse by illegal entrants seeking to stay here indefinitely.
- Mandating that all claimants must make their claims immediately. The current system allows people to frustrate removal. Under this legislation, for the first time you will have to make your entire claim within days of your arrival. That means you will not be able to make repeated claims solely with the aim of frustrating your removal. We will process claims much faster, ensuring a claimants’ case is heard, adjudicated upon and closed within weeks.
- Making sure the only route to asylum in the UK is a safe and legal route, with an annual cap on the number of refugees. Since 2015, the UK has offered sanctuary to over 450,000 people through our global safe and legal routes. The Government will introduce an annual cap for the number of refugees. This cap will be set by Parliament, in consultation with local authorities, when illegal migration is under control.
Rachel said:
“I voted for these tough new laws to deliver on the promise I made to my constituents to strengthen our borders and to put an end to the small boats crossing the English Channel. Stopping illegal Channel crossings is the most moral and compassionate thing we can do.
“It’s a shame Labour have opposed these new laws at every stage. They talk the talk on tackling illegal migration, but when it comes to it they will never back up their words with action.
"I voted to stop the boats because it is unfair on those with a genuine case for asylum when our capacity to help is taken up by people coming here illegally from countries that are safe and it is unfair on the British people.
“Now, thanks to the laws this Conservative Government has passed, if someone enters the UK illegally, they will be detained immediately and removed to a safe country within weeks – with no ability to make spurious and late claims to frustrate removal.
“I believe this tough but fair approach will stop the boats. And it doesn’t stop us from helping the world’s most in need. We’re a compassionate country and that will continue to be the case.
“There is a clear difference between helping refugees and economic migration, and that has clearly been lost in this debate.
“It is not wrong to believe that we should be able to control our borders. We have the sovereign right to decide who can or cannot enter our country. Our friends around the world do just that including Australia, New Zealand and Canada. I’m pretty sure they are not viewed as bigoted countries!”