Migrants arriving on small boats to be detained and removed ‘within weeks’, government says

Migrants arriving in the UK on small boats from across the Channel will be detained and removed “within weeks”, under stringent new laws set out by the government.

Home secretary Suella Braverman unveiled the Illegal Migration Bill in Parliament today, telling MPs there had been a 500 per cent increase in the dangerous journeys in two years.

She said: “They will not stop coming here until the world knows that if you enter Britain illegally you will be detained and swiftly removed.”

The new law is already expected to undergo a legal challenge after Braverman admitted it was likely to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

It comes after Rishi Sunak made resolving the crisis one of his five pledges earlier this year.

Speaking from Downing Street, the prime minister said: “We are introducing legislation to make clear that if you come here illegally, you can’t claim asylum. 

“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… from ever re-entering our country.”

The government says its bill will give ministers powers to legally remove anyone who enters the UK illegally and who has passed through a safe country, and to detain them for 28 days.

Anyone at “real risk” of serious harm when relocated, those under 18 or medically unfit to fly will be able to delay their removal, while all other cases will be heard remotely after removal.

“It is this country and your government that should decide who comes here – not criminal gangs,” Sunak added.

The government insists the UK is a compassionate country and says it wants its policy to warn people off risking their lives and curtail the profits of the criminal gangs responsible.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the government’s record on dealing with people smugglers and said their plans were “Groundhog Day”.

“This is deeply damaging chaos,” she said. “They have been in power for 13 years. The asylum system is broken and they broke it.”