Rishi Sunak announced his plan to tackle illegal immigration, including creating a new agreement with Albania to speed up the return of asylum seekers to a ‘safe’ country
(Picture: Joe Giddens / PA)Rishi Sunak has pledged to enact new legislation with the Albanian government, to combat illegal immigration, declaring that anyone entering the UK unlawfully will not be permitted to remain.
Additionally, Sunak revealed his intentions to “raise the threshold to be considered modern slave”.
With almost 45,000 people arriving in the country on small boats this year, and 12,000 of those Albanian, what is Sunak’s plan to battle illegal immigration from the Balkan country and what is the response?
Why is Albania being targeted?
The announcements follow a year in which a record-breaking number of migrants travelled to the UK through perilous Channel crossings in small boats.
The Government has made an issue of Albanians entering the nation through that route, claiming that they made up almost 30 per cent of the 33,000 people who came illegally in the first nine months of 2022, compared to three per cent of everyone who entered in 2021.
“Albania is a safe, prosperous European country,” he told MPs.
“The prime minister of Albania has himself said there is no reason why we cannot return Albanian asylum seekers immediately,” he added.
Sunak noted that, whereas the UK had a rejection rate of 46 per cent, Germany, France, and Sweden all rejected nearly 100 per cent of Albanian asylum applications.
What is Rishi Sunak’s plan?
One of the five key points Sunak announced in the Commons was the creation of a new agreement with Albania, to speed up the return of immigrants to their own country, or a ‘safe’ country, with Border Force officers being stationed at Tirana airport for the first time.
The Prime Minister explained that the legislation would be introduced early next year and mean people who do not come to the country through legal and safe routes “will be detained and swiftly returned either to [their] home country or a safe country where [their] asylum claim will be considered”.
He added those coming illegally would “no longer be able to frustrate removal attempts with late or spurious claims or appeals” and, once removed from the UK, “should have no right to re-entry settlement or citizenship”.
But he pledged to work with the UN Refugee Agency to create more legal routes “so the UK remains a safe haven for the most vulnerable”.
Other points in Sunak’s plan include doubling the number of asylum caseworkers, with a promise to abolish the backlog by the end of next year.
More small boats will be brought together in order to tackle Channel crossings. Extra resources will be allocated to increase the number of raids carried out by immigration officers.
New sites, including disused holiday parks, former student halls, and surplus military sites, will be utilised to house asylum seekers.
What is the response to Sunak’s plan?
The Liberal Democrats claimed the Government‘s measures would “weaken critical protections for victims of human trafficking and modern slavery”, while Labour blasted the announcements as mere “gimmicks”.
Even former prime minister Theresa May seemed to disagree with Sunak’s new plan, saying “people-smuggling and human trafficking are distinct and separate crimes and should not be treated or spoken of as one”, adding: “The onus must be on the Home Office to improve its processing.”
