The Prime Minister will deliver a speech on action to address the
global challenge of illegal migration and tackle small boat
crossings.
He will announce plans to break the business model of
people-smuggling gangs, step up operations in the Channel, bring
more criminals to justice and end this barbaric trade in human
misery.
Setting out the scale of the challenge he is expected to
say:
“Before Christmas 27 people drowned, and in
the weeks ahead there may be many more losing their lives at sea,
and whose bodies may never be recovered.
“Around 600 came across the Channel yesterday. In just
a few weeks this could again reach a thousand a day.
“I accept that these people – whether 600 or one thousand –
are in search of a better life; the opportunities that the United
Kingdom provides and the hope of a fresh start.
“But it is these hopes - these dreams - that have been
exploited. These vile people smugglers are abusing the
vulnerable and turning the Channel into a watery graveyard,
with men, women and children, drowning in unseaworthy boats and
suffocating in refrigerated lorries.”
Through these bold new plans the Government is taking
back control of our borders and fulfilling the outcome of the
2016 referendum by refusing to duck the challenges and difficult
decisions which have “bedevilled our country for too
long and caused far too much human suffering and
tragedy”.
This Government has done more than any other to resettle
vulnerable people through safe and legal routes - from Syria,
Afghanistan, Ukraine, Hong Kong and more – but it is only by
controlling illegal migration that we can ensure we have the
capacity to sustain and expand that generosity, and properly
support people to rebuild their lives.
The Prime Minister is expected to say
that:
“We cannot sustain a parallel illegal
system. Our compassion may be
infinite, but our
capacity to help people is not.
“The British people voted several times to control our
borders, not to close
them, but to control them.
“So just as Brexit allowed us to take back control of legal
immigration by replacing free movement with our points-based
system, we are also
taking back control of illegal immigration, with a long-term plan
for asylum in this country.
“It is a plan that will ensure the UK has a
world-leading asylum offer, providing generous protection to
those directly fleeing the worst of
humanity, by settling
thousands of people every year through safe and legal
routes.”
Following the Prime Minister’s speech the Home
Secretary will set out further details on a world-first migration
and economic development partnership signed by the Home Secretary
with Rwanda - one of the
fastest-growing economies in Africa which is recognised globally
for its record on welcoming and integrating migrants.
