Government in the dock over ‘Small Boats Failure Week’, as more people arrive in last week than entire population of Ascension Island

Channel crossings topped more the entire population of Ascension Island during the Conservatives’ Small Boats Failure Week, as 13 years of asylum chaos is laid bare.

Some 1,094 people have arrived in small boats this week – dwarfing the circa 800 inhabitants of the volcanic island – and more than 100 times the number of individuals on the original grounded flight to Rwanda (seven).

The figures cap off another week where the rhetoric of Tory ministers collided with reality and saw:

1. A grim milestone passed of more than 100,000 crossings since in 2018 - generating an estimated £400 million for criminal gangs. 84 per cent of those who have claimed asylum are still in the backlog.

1. 10,000 more people were revealed to be in hotels compared to December, when Rishi Sunak promised to end their use. Labour analysis revealed the Conservatives are now spending £5,000 a minute on hotel use at taxpayers’ expense. The Immigration Minister then claimed that maintaining asylum backlogs was a deliberate effort to deter arrivals, incurring billions of pounds of hotel bills, paid for by the taxpayer.

1. Yesterday one of the Government’s £420,000 high-tech drones crashed into the Channel and one of its Border Force cutters was reported to be faulty and out-of-action. The Home Office was also revealed to be spending £9 million renewing its current fleet because of yet another delayed procurement process.

1. The government’s Safeguarding Minister told the media that the new Illegal Migration Act hasn’t yet come into force and it won’t until they have got a working returns deal in place. She also supported briefing suggesting that asylum-seekers could be removed to Ascension Island, before being contradicted by government spokespeople later that morning.

1. New figures from Labour revealed that – at the current rate – it would take until 2036 for the Home Office just to remove the existing backlog of asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected, with almost 40,000 failed asylum cases awaiting action, and just 3,000 currently being removed each year. Since 2018, only 16 per cent of asylum seekers arriving by small boat have had their cases decided, let alone been removed.

1. The Conservative Deputy Chairman admitted that the government has “failed” on this issue and added “There’s no doubt about it”. 

1. Robert Jenrick dismissed safety warnings two days ago over the Bibby Stockholm. Now asylum-seekers are already being offloaded days after arrival, following reports of legionella.

1. Rishi Sunak still refused to act by backing Labour’s plan to stop the boats with a cross-border police unit, to go after criminal smuggling gangs and better partner with European countries.

Commenting on the list of failures, Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, said:

“Across the country, most people want strong border security and a properly managed and controlled asylum system so the UK does its bit alongside other countries to help those who have fled persecution and conflict, while those who have no right to be here are swiftly returned.

“Under this government, we have neither as gangs are undermining our border security and the asylum system is in chaos. The Conservatives have slogans and gimmicks, but no real solutions and no grip - and even their campaign weeks disintegrate into total chaos. 

“Rishi Sunak is failing to fix the Tories’ boats chaos. Labour has a plan to go after the criminal gangs, tackle dangerous boat crossings, clear the backlog and sort out the Tory chaos.”

Ends

Notes:

• New figures out today show that 1,094 people arrived on small boats during the last week, compared to 800 (the population of Ascension Island) and 7 (the number of individuals scheduled to be on the first Rwanda flight): 

• Each crossing is estimated to cost approximately £4,000, giving a total smuggling revenue since 2018 of £400 million - Channel crossings, migration and asylum - Home Affairs Committee (parliament.uk)
  
  
• Recent statistics confirm that only 16% of small boat arrivals since 2018 have had an initial decision on their case - Irregular migration to the UK, year ending March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
  
  
• Evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee confirmed that at the end of 2022, £5.6 million was being spent each day on asylum hotels (separate to £1.2 million spent on hotels for Afghans). In December 2022, the Home Secretary confirmed that this related to approximately 40,000 people:

• In October, the Home Secretary confirmed that the per-person per-night cost of asylum hotels is £150. Since then, the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels has risen to over 50,000:

• Robert Jenrick claimed that fast processing of cases encourages more asylum arrivals -The London Economic on Twitter: "Immigration minister Robert Jenrick says if you process the claims of asylum seekers more quickly that encourages more people to come. He's admitting that leaving asylum seekers in limbo, in temporary accommodation, not allowed to work, not able to restart their lives, for years… https://t.co/OGda25S56U" / X
  
  
• Confirmation of cutter outage and drone crash in the Channel - Matt Dathan on Twitter: "The government's 'Small Boats Week' isn't ending very well. Today: - A Border Force cutter was put out of action due to a technical glitch - One of the govt's £420k "eye in the sky" drones crashed in the Channel - 11 boats carrying hundreds of migrants crossed the Channel" / X
  
  
• Sarah Dines confirmed Ascension Island was under discussion, and that the new Illegal Migration Act hadn’t yet been implemented - Ascension Island part of ‘additional measures’ to tackle small boats – minister | Shropshire Star
  
  
• Labour analysis of backlog in asylum returns - Ministers ‘would take until 2036 to removed failed asylum seekers at current rate’ | The Independent
  
  
• Lee Anderson’s comments on government failure to fix small boats crisis - Lee Anderson admits Tories have failed on tackling illegal migrants (telegraph.co.uk)
  
  
• On Bibby Stockholm safety https://twitter.com/robpowellnews/status/1689972740147539968?s=48&t=1ao0Z17rZRWXiX4W1pCNaw

Labour’s five-point plan to reform the asylum system:

1. Crackdown on criminal smuggler gangs, through new Cross-Border Police Unit

A Labour Government would redirect spending from the unworkable Rwanda scheme, which the government has admitted is subject to a very high risk of fraud, to set up a new cross-border police unit to crack down on smuggling gangs. This would include millions of pounds of new investment in the NCA. Officers would be based in the UK and throughout Europe to tackle the gangs upstream. This would be supported with an urgent review to identify the gaps in enforcement against smuggling gangs, with the findings used to lay out an Action Plan to be delivered by the NCA and Border Force, in collaboration with international allies and Europol.

1. Clear the backlog and end hotel use
   
   The Home Office is taking 9,000 fewer asylum decisions a year than they were in 2015, leaving people waiting in limbo for much longer and pushing up accommodation costs. Fast tracking cases for Albania and other safe countries, introducing triage and restoring proper casework standards and targets will mean quicker support for those who are refugees, much quicker returns for those who are not, and stopping costly hotel use.

1. Reform resettlement routes to stop people being exploited by gangs
   
   Labour would redesign the existing resettlement schemes which are not currently working properly so that they include a clearer process for refugees with family connections in the UK to be considered for resettlement, preventing them being exploited by criminal gangs or making dangerous journeys.

1. New agreement with France and other countries on returns and family reunion
   
   Labour would negotiate a new agreement which includes safe returns and safe family reunions.

1. Tackle humanitarian crises at source helping refugees in their region
   
   Labour would work in partnership internationally to address some of the humanitarian crises that are leading people to flee their homes including restoring the 0.7% aid commitment when the fiscal situation allows and strengthening support for the people of Afghanistan, currently the largest group trying to cross the Channel.