Rishi Sunak vowed migrants arriving in the UK illegally would be removed "within weeks" as he gave a press conference on the Government’s controversial new proposals to crack down on small boat Channel crossings.
The plans, unveiled by Home Secretary Suella Braverman in the Commons on Tuesday afternoon, would remove and ban asylum seekers from re-entry if they arrive in the UK through unauthorised means.
Mr Sunak, who visited Dover in Kent earlier on Tuesday, said: “We are introducing legislation to make clear that if you come here illegally, you can’t claim asylum. You can’t benefit from our modern slavery protection. You can’t make serious human rights claims and you can’t stay.
“We will detain those who come here illegally and then remove them in weeks, either to their own country if it is safe to do so, or to a safe third country like Rwanda. And once you are removed, you will be banned – as you are in America and Australia – from ever re-entering our country.”
Describing the move as “tough” but “necessary and fair”, he added: “And this legislation will be retrospective. If you come on a small boat today, the measures in this bill will apply to you.”
The Government is likely to face legal challenges over the Illegal Migration Bill, amid allegations that it is not compliant with the UK’s commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights.
But Ms Braverman told MPs it would “betray” voters not to clamp down on the crossings, and claimed she was “confident” the bill would not breach international law, despite its “legal complexities”.
Critics have warned the proposals are “unworkable” and will leave thousands of migrants in limbo by banning them from ever claiming British citizenship.
But speaking during a visit to a Home Office joint control centre in Dover on Tuesday, Mr Rishi Sunak said “we’ve got to somehow break the cycle” of criminal gangs involved in migrant Channel crossings.
