Lifetime ban for Channel migrants as UK sets stage for new law to tackle small boats

The UK government is set to make all asylum claims made by Channel migrants inadmissible through a migration bill, in an attempt to crack down on migrants after huge pressures on the government to settle down the migration crisis across the country.

Under the Illegal Migration Bill, which is due to be unveiled on Tuesday, migrants who arrive in Britain on small boats will be banned from returning or claiming citizenship in the UK.

“Make no mistake, if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday, promising to halt crossings under new laws aimed at working around the European Convention on Human Rights.

The government believes it will be able to apply a “rights brake” in the legislation, but no details of how this might work have yet been revealed.

Over 45,000 immigrants crossed English Channel to UK in 2022

A record number of over 45000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK from mainland Europe in 2022, surpassing the previous year

The total cost of the new policies will be around £3 billion, according to The Times.

The new legislation lays the responsibility on PM Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman to tackle the long-running problem.

However, the Guardian said in a report that the real aim of Sunak for introducing the bill is “to talk tough to save himself”.

The report said that there have been too many promises from the government to step up action to tackle the issue but the problem still remains in its place.

Braverman told the Sun Newspaper on Sunday that “the British people want this solved. Enough is enough.”

“They are sick of tough talk and inadequate action. We must stop the boats.”

Four people dead after small migrant boat capsizes in English Channel

Lifeboats, helicopters and rescue teams working with the French and British navies responded to the incident.

The home secretary will also be expected to send small boat arrivals to Rwanda or a “safe third country” as soon as “reasonably practicable”, the Sun reported.

The government’s new plan comes as most of these asylum seekers qualify to have their claims considered in the UK under international law and the government cannot declare them inadmissible forcefully.

Home Office figures show that around 3,000 migrants have crossed the Channel already this year, compared with a record of 45,000 channel crossings during the whole period of 2022, surpassing the previous year's record by more than 60 percent.

Aside from its casualties, the flow of illegal migrants has also soured Britain's relations with neighboring France, prompting a blame game between the two.

UK High Court approves controversial Rwanda deportation policy, raising concern among rights groups

"The court has concluded that it is lawful for the government to make arrangements for relocating asylum seekers to Rwanda," Judge Lewis said.

Meanwhile, as a solution to stop the crossings and manage hundreds of refugees who pass the Channel every day, the UK government signed a deal with Rwanda in April 2022 to send those refugees to the East African country.

Under the deal, signed off by then Home Secretary Priti Patel, the migrants and asylum-seekers entering Britain would be sent thousands of miles away to Rwanda on a one-way ticket.

The UK has promised Rwanda an initial £120m as part of an “economic transformation and integration fund” and has pledged to pay for operational costs too.

The High Court has ruled that the government's Rwanda asylum plan is legal, but the decision is likely to face further challenges in the courts.

A rolling program of promises from the UK government to sort out small boat crossings has so far failed to deliver, and there is no evidence showing that the electorate believes the government is doing a good job on this.

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