British government announces tougher course against illegal immigrants

Britain’s Home Secretary announced on the third day of the Conservative Party conference that he would further tighten asylum policy. The intention is not to allow anyone who enters the country illegally to apply for asylum. “If you entered our country illegally from a safe country, you should be returned to your country or deported to Rwanda,” Minister Braverman said.

In her own words, she wants to put an eventual end to the boat migrants crossing the canal, something her ancestors already aspired to. She says anyone entering the country via this route will be relentlessly deported. She also reiterated her party’s previous goal of reducing the number of people immigrating to the UK to “tens of thousands” from the current figure of 239 thousand.

The right to seek asylum is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Earlier, the new minister admitted to The Telegraph that her “dream” and “obsession” was to deport migrants to Rwanda. At the conference, she expressed her ambition to have the first flights to Rwanda depart before Christmas.

The plan for flights to Rwanda came from the previous government (led by Boris Johnson) and championed to the bone by former minister Priti Patel. The Johnson administration hoped it would deter immigrants. The new minister wants to continue her predecessor Patel’s controversial plan.

Braverman had previously acknowledged that the Rwanda plan was “coming for a long time” due to legal hurdles. The first flight, which was supposed to leave last June, was halted at the last minute by the European Court of Human Rights.

Although the UK is no longer part of the European Union, it is still bound by these regulations. Braverman wants to get rid of that in the future, as do many other members of the Conservative Party.

In the meantime, Braverman wants to increase the number of patrols along the sea between France and England, to intercept boats.

According to the BBC, about 33,500 people have crossed the channel since the beginning of this year. This is more than it was in the whole of 2021. This mainly concerns immigrants from Albania, Iran and Afghanistan. The number could rise to 60,000 people this year.

Charitable organization Care4Calais has responded with horror to the plans to the Reuters news agency. According to the organisation, most migrants coming to the UK are refugees.

Yesterday’s party conference in Birmingham also led to the news. Then Prime Minister Truss and her finance minister Quarting announced that the most controversial part of the new economic plans had been scrapped.

The government decided not to cut the tax on the highest incomes anyway. The plan caused panic in financial markets the previous week and the International Monetary Fund warned not to let the tax cuts pass.