We are finally regaining control of our borders

Priti Patel’s “New Plan for Immigration” provides a strong basis for the Government to finally take back control of our borders. Having delivered on her commitment to end free movement for EU nationals via legal routes, she is now turning her attention to the even thornier area of illegal routes. For the first time, we have a Home Secretary who is prepared to challenge the principle that all those who enter the UK illegally have an absolute and unfettered right to lodge an application for human rights or asylum, regardless of the merits of their case or their chosen method of arrival – and thus gain entry.

The vast majority of asylum seekers who come to the UK have passed through many “safe” countries to reach our shores in the first place, often facilitated by organised crime groups. The Dublin Convention – designed to prevent “asylum shopping” in different EU countries – manifestly failed to deliver the desired outcome, due to the significant administrative barriers to return raised by transit countries. It has now in any case lapsed, upon our departure from the EU.

Meanwhile, there are 80 million forcibly displaced people in the world awaiting resettlement, many in unstable states or in countries adjacent to them. By distinguishing and prioritising those seeking resettlement by legitimate routes from those who are arriving from safe third countries by irregular routes, the Government is taking a major step forward in cutting off the supply chains to human smugglers – thus saving the lives of those who are perishing by suffocation in the backs of lorries and containers or drowning in the English Channel.

That said, the Government is stirring up a can of worms that will – if successful – lead to the most fundamental reform of UK immigration controls for decades. So, what is the problem they are trying to fix?

Essentially, we have lost control of our borders. In my day, those who arrived in the UK with false papers or by evading border controls were served with removal directions and sent back immediately whence they came. I did not need permission from the country of departure to do this, or to apply for a passport for them if they had destroyed it. This was standard international practice, in line with Annex 9 of the Chicago Convention.

Nowadays, those who would not otherwise qualify to enter may claim asylum or human rights on arrival, and thus thwart any removal directions for an indeterminate (and often indefinite) period. This means that the smugglers need only get them into a vessel and onto the Channel, or into the back of a lorry or container, to achieve their goal. In order to stop the smugglers, we must stop the boats. That means returning those arriving from safe third countries, including France.

This will be a difficult summer. Only this week we saw a new daily record of 183 migrants arrive in six boats, some carrying over 50 people. As the weather gets better, more will come. Once here, they will lodge asylum or human rights claims, be relocated into hotels, and added to the backlog of 50,000 cases in the certain knowledge that any attempt by the Home Office to remove them is unlikely to succeed.

So in order to “take back control”, the Home Secretary has two major hurdles to overcome.

The first will be to find a way to reconcile her proposed Bill with the European Convention on Human Rights and the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which the UK is a signatory. This means reconciling the UK’s interpretation of these instruments in law against the more generous interpretations of European judges, and with the Human Rights Act 1998. This will have lawyers rolling up their sleeves in readiness.

The second is finding a way to ensure that she gains international support for her plans, particularly with our near neighbours on returns. Some may say that this is insurmountable – but in my experience the French authorities don’t like human smugglers any more than we do, and they have signed bilateral treaties with us over the years to deter illegal entry between our two countries.

It is certainly going to be a long slog. But the Government has now taken a very bold and ambitious step forward.

Tony Smith is a former director general of UK Border Force