In recent weeks, I have seen a real surge in people contacting me, expressing their views about the extremely troubling crossings of the Channel that we continue to see via small boats. I therefore wanted to take this opportunity to set out my thoughts on this, and assure people that the Government is taking firmer action to stop these illegal crossings. Like the majority of local people, I am determined to bring to justice the ruthless, criminal people smugglers whose actions endanger lives; the Government is taking all action possible to stop these criminals exploiting vulnerable people – and I offer my ongoing, full support to this important work.
There is a global illegal migration crisis with long-term pull factors and criminal gangs who treat human beings as cargo, and, as such, there is no quick fix. I fully support the Government’s approach of tackling issues upstream and not simply waiting until people have reached EU countries.
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which I took through Parliament as a Minister, includes far-reaching reforms to the UK's asylum system to address many of the underlying factors to deter illegal migration. Measures include a one-stop appeals process; the ability to process claims outside the country; the ability to have differentiation, and declare as inadmissible to our asylum system, those who arrive in the UK having already passed through safe countries; and life sentences for people smugglers. People should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, and quite clearly, nobody needs to flee France in order to be safe.
Alongside legislative steps, the Government has been taking action to prevent crossings now. I warmly welcome the fact that the military has taken operational command of responding to small boats in the Channel, in partnership with Border Force - an arrangement I helped to broker. This is backed up by £50 million in new funding that is delivering new boats, aerial surveillance and expert military personnel. In doing so, it bolsters Border Force teams and their existing patrol vessels and also provides a Wildcat helicopter.
Taken together, this significantly enhances law enforcement's ability to detect boats. The increased surveillance means better evidence can be gathered for criminal investigations, ensuring more people smugglers who trade in these life-threatening journeys can be referred for prosecution and brought to justice.
Continued international co-operation is vital to this work. The Government's work with France has stopped more than 30,000 illegal crossings since the start of the year and destroyed over 1,000 boats. The UK-France Joint Intelligence Cell has also dismantled over 50 organised crime groups since it was established in 2020.
I am sure local people will join me in welcoming the UK's latest bilateral partnership agreement with France to tackle illegal migration at the shared border, with a focus on small boat crossings. Under the plan, for the first time, UK officers will join French law enforcement teams as embedded observers, sharing real-time information. The UK has pledged a financial investment of up to €72.2 million (around £62.2 million) in 2022-23 to France, to assist in the delivery of the joint plan, which covers investment in drones, night vision equipment and CCTV in French ports to try and prevent crossings. No one country can solve this issue in isolation and I guarantee that without this work, the already unacceptable situation would be far worse, given how many embarkations are stopped in the first place as a result of our cooperation.
I am also extremely concerned that of the over 40,000 migrants who have crossed the Channel illegally this year, some 10,000 have been single Albanian men. These individuals are clearly not fleeing from war or persecution and by entering the UK illegally, are diverting attention and resources away from the truly vulnerable.
Under a historic readmissions agreement with Albania signed in 2021, the removal of Albanians with no right to be in the UK will be fast-tracked wherever possible. This includes failed asylum seekers, foreign national offenders and individuals overstaying in the UK, or seeking to game the system. Those who seek to abuse our system should be in no doubt of the Government's determination to remove them. Since the historic readmissions agreement was signed, over 1,000 Albanians have been removed from the UK, including some who crossed the Channel illegally to come to the UK.
In concluding, I hope this update reassures people that the Government is taking firmer action to stop these crossings. I am encouraged by this work, much of which I led previously in Government, but will push the new ministerial team to build on this and continue to act fast to make this route unviable and to end the cruel and dangerous people smuggling we see between France and the UK. Ultimately, the crux of this is breaking the business model of the evil criminal gangs responsible for transporting people across the Channel; providing sanctuary to those who genuinely come through safe and legal routes; and returning those with no right to be in our country, without endless cycles of appeal and delay, all designed to frustrate removal. That is precisely what I was working every day of the week to deliver, and Ministers are determined to see it through, including operationalising the 'Migration and Economic Development Partnership' with Rwanda, which is currently before the courts.
None of this is easy, in fact it is painstaking - and there is no one single solution - but do not doubt our resolve as a Government.