Suella Braverman has said she is “confident” that new legislation to deter undocumented migrants crossing the Channel to Britain is compatible with international law, but acknowledged that it could breach the UK’s Human Rights Act.
Introducing the illegal migration bill to parliament on Tuesday, the home secretary defended the government’s strategy on stopping small boat crossings, which prime minister Rishi Sunak in January named one of his five “people’s priorities”.
But in a nod to the controversy around the policy, Braverman said the government had “initiated discussions” with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to prevent legal challenges from stalling the legislation and rules being “abused” to thwart removals.
“Our approach is robust and novel, which is why we cannot make a definitive statement of compatibility under section 19 1b of the Human Rights Act,” said Braverman, adding that she was nevertheless “confident that this bill is compatible with the UK’s international obligations”.
In 2022, a record 45,000 people came to Britain on small boats across the Channel, and with the government spending more than £6mn a day to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels, Sunak has been under pressure from Conservative backbenchers to devise solutions.
But immigration lawyers and NGOs have warned that ministers’ approach amounts to a de facto withdrawal from the 1951 UN convention on refugees, introduced after many countries turned away Jewish refugees.
The new legislation bars anyone considered to have entered the UK illegally from ever claiming asylum and permanently bans them from returning officially. It also makes it a “legal duty” for the home secretary to remove such people either to their home country or to a “safe” third country.
In another provision it strengthens detention powers, so that people held in these circumstances can apply for bail from the courts only after 28 days.
Appeals under modern slavery provisions will be inadmissible under the new law for people arriving in the UK illegally, among whom only minors and people medically unfit to fly will have claims assessed in country.
Braverman said the government would open up more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to reach the UK once the small boats crisis had been tackled.
The government’s plans have been criticised as “unworkable”, in part because the UK has no viable agreements yet in place for the return of refugees to “safe” third countries.
Plans to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda — with which ministers signed a £120mn deal in 2022 — have been stalled by legal challenges, including at the ECHR, which last year prevented the first flight to Kigali carrying detainees from taking off.
In theory, this means that tens of thousands of new arrivals could be held in detention as a result of the policy.
Responding to Braverman, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the bill “isn’t a solution. It is a con that risks making the chaos even worse.”
Some Tory MPs have said that the UK should withdraw from the ECHR if its court in Strasbourg prevents the government from deporting refugees.
Hinting that such a move might be necessary, Braverman on Tuesday described the process that led to the Kigali flight being blocked as “deeply flawed”.
“Our ability to control our borders cannot be held back by an opaque process conducted late at night with no chance to make our case or even appeal decisions,” she said.
