Lucy welcomes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a five-point plan to tackle the small boat crisis and prevent illegal migrants making dangerous channel crossings.
The Prime Minister has committed to ending immigration from Albania. A third of all channel crossings, almost 13,000 people, are Albanian. Albania is a safe country. Germany, France, Italy, and Sweden do not accept migrants from Albania, and yet the UK only return 45% of their asylum seekers.
Rishi Sunak has announced an agreement with Albania, allowing us to tackle illegal migration detain and return the vast majority of claimants from Albania. Over the coming weeks thousands of Albanian migrants will be returned home.
Further, Lucy supports the Prime Minister’s announcement of a new, permanent, unified Small Boats Operation Command. This will coordinate intelligence, interception, processing and enforcement. It will use new technology, including drones, to pick people up, identify illegal migrants, and prosecute traffickers. 700 new staff will be added to focus on tackling organised immigration crime in Europe, freeing up immigration officers to focus on illegal immigration at home.
The Prime Minister has also committed to ending the £5.5 million of spending committed every day to house asylum seekers in hotels. In addition to these steps, the Prime Minister has confirmed that the government will be restarting flights to Rwanda.
Lucy supports the Prime Minister’s commitment to reforming immigration laws to ensure that only people who come here through safe and legal routes may be granted asylum. Early next year, all those who enter the UK illegally will be detained and returned to either their home country or a safe country.
Lucy Allan MP commented:
People in Telford have increasing concerns about small boat channel crossings. I welcome this plan. The government is sending a clear message that we cannot allow illegal migrants from safe countries to cheat the system through dangerous channel crossings.
The Prime Minister's new deal with the Albanian government will allow those coming from a safe country to be returned. His plans will allow us to clear the immigration backlog while ensuring those in need of asylum have safe and legal routes to access it.
