Suella Braverman delivers first speech as Home Secretary to Tory conference
Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham today that the asylum system is being abused and asylum seekers who deliberately enter the UK illegally from a safe country should be swiftly returned to their home country or relocated to Rwanda.
The Times had earlier reported that Braverman would set out proposals for a new bill on illegal immigration that goes further than existing legislation and will see people crossing the Channel being banned from claiming asylum. In the end, that was not concretely proposed in the speech.
The Home Secretary did say that she "will look to bring forward legislation to make it clear that the only route to the United Kingdom is through a safe and legal route". She added that the UK "will always of course work within the bounds of international law", but said the abuse of the system could not be allowed to continue.
Commentators had earlier questioned how the proposals set out in The Times could be compatible with the Refugee Convention.
In the key section of her speech this afternoon, Braverman said: "Our laws are being abused. Abused by people smugglers and criminals pedalling false promises. Abused by people making multiple, meritless and last-minute claims. Abused by tactics from specialist, small boat-chasing law firms. This cannot continue. So, Conference, I will commit to you today, that I will look to bring forward legislation to make it clear that the only route to the United Kingdom is through a safe and legal route. And that's so we can help support those who need our help the most, including women and girls. If you deliberately enter the United Kingdom illegally from a safe country, you should be swiftly returned to your home country or relocated to Rwanda that is where your asylum claim will be considered. UK policy on illegal migration should not be derailed by abuse of our modern slavery laws, Labour's Human Rights Act, or orders of the Strasbourg Court. And we will always of course work within the bounds of international law, but we cannot allow this abuse of our system to continue."
Suella Braverman also acknowledged that there were no quick fixes which would stop the boats crossing the Channel. She said: "I need to be straight with you, Conference. This won't be easy. I cannot promise a solution immediately. We've all heard pledges and promises but this is a complex and entrenched problem."
Earlier in her speech, the Home Secretary outlined her plan on tackling irregular migration and stopping small boat crossings. She stated: "So what is our plan? Firstly, our work with the French has prevented about half of all crossings. I know that alone will not work. So I will work closely with the French to get more out of our partnership. Both on the French coastline and further upstream against the organised criminal gangs. Secondly, we need to find a way to make the Rwanda scheme work. Thirdly, we need to do more to get asylum-seekers out of hotels – currently costing the British taxpayer £5 million per day. And fourth, we cannot allow a foreign court to undermine the sovereignty of our borders."
Braverman criticised the European Court of Human Rights, in particular for its intervention ahead of the first planned flight to Rwanda in June, and said the UK needed to take back control.
The Home Secretary also said that modern slavery laws were being abused by people "gaming the system" and gave the example of asylum seekers from Albania crossing the Channel. "Many of them claim to be trafficked as modern slaves ... The truth is that many of them are not modern slaves and their claims of being trafficked are lies," she said.
In response to the Home Secretary's speech, the Refugee Council said on Twitter: "The proposals in this speech are deeply worrying and out of step with the majority of the public who support giving refugees protection. Most of those coming to the UK on small boats are fleeing the unimaginable horror of war, conflict and persecution. They must not be criminalised for doing so but given a fair hearing on UK soil.
"Prime Ministers since Winston Churchill have committed to the Refugee Convention – which we were a founding signatory of – and we should be strengthening our commitment to this, not seeking to break from it. None of what the Home Secretary is proposing will do anything to tackle the problems in our asylum system because it fundamentally fails to address the reasons people are forced to come here in the first place. We need constructive proposals, from creating safe routes for refugees, to ending the backlog in asylum claims and working with international partners to properly address root causes of forced migration."
The Refugee Council addressed the Home Secretary's remarks about modern slavery and said: "Fewer than 4% of Channel crossers claim to be victims of modern slavery. In 90% of cases, Home Office finds they are. Idea people abuse Modern Slavery Act and it needs overhaul is therefore ludicrous."
The Home Secretary also briefly touched upon work-related migration in her speech, saying: "[W]e mustn't forget how to do things for ourselves. There is absolutely no reason why we can't train up enough of our own HGV drivers, butchers, or fruit-pickers. The way we will build a high-skilled and high-wage economy is by encouraging business to invest in capital and domestic labour. Not relying wholly on low-skilled foreign workers."
Speaking before her speech at a fringe meeting at the conference, Braverman said that she wanted a decrease in the number of work and study visas issued. The Guardian quoted her as saying: "I think we have got to definitely substantially reduce the number of students, the number of work visas and in particular the number of dependants on those sorts of visas."
Meanwhile, the Financial Times (FT) reported that Prime Minister Liz Truss has ordered a review of the visa system in order to tackle labour shortages in certain industries, despite resistance from Home Secretary. The FT added that Truss is also drawing up plans to streamline intra-company transfers, which allow multinational companies to temporarily relocate a skilled worker into the UK from abroad.