This week’s tragedy in the Channel reminds us just how determined migrants are to get into the UK. Of course, they are illegal migrants, using illegal routes to try to build a new life here in. the UK. There is a great deal of anger about this, as evidenced by my mail box.
Of course, migration has been around forever. And refugees fleeing from war or persecution have long been supported by the UK international aid budget. Syrian refugees are supported at the their first point of sanctuary and we have taken some directly here in Wyre Forest.
But the sheer numbers of illegal migrants crossing the Channel has caused a crisis.
This week, Rishi Sunak announced proposals to deal with this once and for all.
Around a third of those migrants crossing in small boats are Albanian. They are economic migrants and illegal. So a new agreement has been made that Albanian migrants will be repatriated as soon as possible. Given Albanian is a safe and prosperous European country, the advice to Border Force officials is that applications will be treated as such, including raising the threshold for modern slavery pleas. Weekly flights will take them home.
But for the small boats, a new, permanent unified small boats operational command has been set with 700 new staff. This will bring together the fragmented operations that have struggled.
And in further employment opportunities, 200 more staff are being recruited to beef up the NCA, with a doubling of funding, aimed at tackling the organised gangs that are fuelling the crisis. Data sharing will also help prevent illegal immigrants from accessing basics such as bank accounts.
Similarly, migrants housed in hotels will be moved to cheaper sites. Aside from costing us all over £6 million every day (and rising), businesses that are supported by the tourist industry are losing out.
And finally, the asylum backlog will be cleared by 2023.
There are a host of other measures, and one of those is to make sure there are legal routes for genuine asylum seekers and migrants. We are a compassionate country and should be proud of our legacy of assistance. But we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any more. Finding that balance is a key objective of this new government and I am confident that these measure will start to address people’s concerns.