Response to the Small Boats Bill

March 07, 2023

Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

As it stands, the Small Boats Bill has many of the right ingredients to solve the Channel Crisis. However, it is vital that it is not neutered as it makes its way through parliament.

Enshrining in statute a requirement to detain and remove illegal arrivals is a vital first step. Furthermore, establishing the precedent that illegal entrants will be unable to claim asylum or other form of refuge will serve as a powerful deterrent. It is equally important, of course, to plug the huge gaps created by the Human Rights and Modern Slavery Acts. These are all essential elements if the tide of illegal boat arrivals is to be stemmed.

Only tough and unambiguous legislation will stand any chance of succeeding in dissuading people from risking their lives by jumping into rickety boats and heading for Britain in the expectation that once here they will be permitted to stay.

If the government fails yet again to keep its promise to solve this crisis, more people will come, more lives will be lost and the cost to the taxpayer will go on increasing. And come the next election, the electorate’s dismay will be only too clear when the ballot boxes are opened.