UK returns small boat migrants to France for first time

Ministers are prepared to look at sending asylum seekers to be processed offshore, Sir Keir Starmer said, as he promised to “reset” Britain’s approach on illegal migration.

The prime minister said on Thursday that abandoning the “gimmick” of the Rwanda scheme opened the door to a closer relationship with other European countries to tackle the small boats crisis.

He was speaking as he hosted more than 40 leaders from across Europe at the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Starmer said he had won support from other leaders for his drive to co-ordinate action to tackle the gangs behind the Channel crossings but admitted there was not a “silver bullet” that would solve the crisis.

He also opened the door to the UK moving the processing of asylum claims offshore following a similar scheme being pursued by Italy.

“I’m a practical person. I’m a pragmatist,” he said. “I’ve always said we’ll look at what works and where cases can be processed closer to origin, then that is something which should be looked at.”

Italy and Albania ratified a deal this year that will allow the Italian authorities to send migrants to two Italian-run processing centres in the Balkan country.

The deal, the first “offshoring” deal struck by an EU member state, will see up to 3000 migrants at any one time sent to Albania while their asylum claim is processed, but it differs from Britain’s terminated Rwanda deal because it will allow successful applicants to be transferred to Italy.

It is expected up to 36,000 migrants will be processed under the arrangement each year in what Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, hopes will create a deterrent against migrants entering the country illegally.

Starmer said “there’s interest in how that might work” when asked about whether Britain could replicate the deal but stressed that his focus was on targeting the people smuggling gangs that facilitated illegal migration routes.

A senior Home Office source said it was “unlikely” that the new Labour government would pursue an offshoring scheme but would be open to exploring the concept if it was workable, cost effective and compliant with international law.

The source said: “We’ll look at models, we’ll look at anything that is workable, affordable and within international law. We wouldn’t take it off the table but there is not an active piece of work, conversation or negotiation going on.

“The position is unchanged, the priority for us on tackling irregular migration is going after the gangs and building security co-operation. But we haven’t shut ourselves down to that relatively unlikely scenario [of offshoring asylum seekers].”

Starmer also appeared to open the door to a returns agreement with France in the future – but said the UK would not join up to any EU burden-sharing arrangement.

“The returns agreement only comes into being at the end of the process,” he said. “And my focus is at the beginning of the process to make sure we actually secure our borders because the problem we’ve got is we’ve got tens of thousands of people who are here who shouldn’t be here. That is not a sensible policy on any approach.”

He added: “I’ve always said we’re not going to be part of the EU scheme. That is for EU members. We’re not a member. We’ve never wanted to or asked to be part of that scheme.”

Starmer warned that efforts to bring numbers down would take time. He added: “We’ve got record numbers this year. We can’t switch that in 24 hours, one week. We have been left in a really difficult position yet again by this government ... it’s been a dereliction of duty because border control is about our national security.

“And rather than address it with a serious answer, they addressed it with a gimmick. The gimmick didn’t work, and we’re left with a very serious situation to try and turn around.”

Starmer received strong backing from his European counterparts.

Earlier Thursday, a Border Force vessel rescued 13 migrants from the water and returned them to Calais. The Home Office said it was the first time that a UK vessel had returned migrants to France but denied reports that there had been a change in policy, saying that the operation was following a request from the French.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/uk-returns-small-boat-migrants-to-france-for-first-time/news-story/d575307066cb0c33cf4dfabcebae20fa

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