PRITI Patel has revealed her tough new immigration plans to MPs today – with an asylum shake-up to stop migrants risking their lives crossing the Channel.
The Home Secretary vowed to tackle illegal migration “head on” with a fresh approach to crackdown on the routes that people try to use to get to the UK, insisting: “while people are dying, we have a responsibility to act”.
She told MPs today her reforms were the biggest shake-up in decades, saying it would stop people “dying at sea, in lorries, and in shipping containers, having put their lives in the hands of criminal gangs.”
She said the system was being clogged up with last minute “meritless claims”, and her reforms would mean only people with genuine rights to be here would be able to stay.
Many put in last minute claims to try and stay in the UK – but eight in ten are then thrown out.
“Enough is enough,” she vowed.
Her crackdown involves:
- New life sentences for people smugglers trying to get migrants into the country
- New legal routes for people to come to the UK
- People coming via illegal routes could be picked up within 24 hours and taken to an overseas territory
- More powers for Border Force to crack down and take tougher action when required
- A possible £2000 fine for drivers who don’t lock their boots when crossing the Channel as part of plans to ensure no one can sneak into the UK
She said today: “No more stalling justice. Our new system will be faster and fairer and support the most vulnerable.”
She revealed that since 2015 Britain has resettled almost 25,000, men, women and children seeking refuge from persecution across the world.
And ministers are allowing more than five million Hong Kong-ers to come to the UK as part of citizenship plans.
Priti Patel said this afternoon: “Nobody can say that the British public are not fair or generous when it comes to helping those in need.”
If people arrive illegally, they will no longer have the same entitlements as those who arrive legally, and it will be harder for them to stay,” she said.
And “asylum shoppers” will be blocked from travelling through safe countries to settle in their preferred destination of the UK.
The Home Sec told MPs: “If, like over 60 percent of illegal arrivals, they have travelled through a safe country like France to get here, they will not have immediate entry into the asylum system — which is what happens today.”
