Last month, Government passed the Rwanda Bill at second reading, and I want to hear your views on the Rwanda scheme as we move into committee stage and third reading later this month.
The policy of removing those who arrive here illegally to a third country is not designed to continue to see the numbers of illegal arrivals that we have to date, and then remove them - but to act as a deterrent. A number of European countries are in the process of negotiating similar agreements. Deterrent works, we've seen that with Australia Here in the UK, where we have returns agreements we see the numbers of arrivals from those countries reduce.
This Bill builds on the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and complements all other measures that this Government are employing to end illegal migration.
Rwanda is a safe country. Labour candidates sell holidays to Rwanda for children, the UN send refugees there and the National Crime Agency say that stopping Channel migrants is 'not possible without Rwanda-style scheme'. The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill makes it unambiguously clear that Rwanda is safe and it will prevent the courts from second-guessing the will of this sovereign Parliament.
This Government are stopping the boats. Arrivals are down by a third this year, as illegal entries are on the rise elsewhere in Europe. Small boat arrivals are up by 80% in the Mediterranean, but they are down by a third across the channel. The largest ever small boats deal with France, tackling the supply of boat engines and parts, the arrest and conviction of people smugglers, and a 70% increase in raids on illegal working are having a positive impact. We have signed returns and co-operation agreements with France, Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy, Georgia and Ethiopia. Fifty hotels are being returned to their local communities, and the initial asylum backlog, which stood at 92,000, has been cleared. We have sent back 22,000 illegal migrants, and the UK’s arrangement with Albania proves that deterrents work.
The principle of relocating people to a safe country to have their asylum claims processed is entirely consistent with the terms of the refugee convention. The High Court and the Court of Appeal unanimously confirmed that, and the Supreme Court did not dispute those findings.
This is how we will save lives at sea. This is how we will deter illegal migration. And this is how we will break the business model of the most evil and perverse trade that we currently can see: the trade in vulnerable people. The people smugglers are not humanitarians; they are vicious criminals, and we must take action to stop them. This is how we restore confidence in our immigration system and assert full control over our borders.
