Channel migrants should be deported to processing centres on South Atlantic islands if an agreement with France fails, report suggests

  • Channel migrants should be deported to offshore processing centres within 48 hours of arrival, a report will say today 
  • Think-tank Policy Exchange suggested processing centres should be set up on British islands in the South Atlantic 
  • Alternative locations could include the Channel Islands or a 98 square mile area of Cyprus 

Channel migrants should be deported to offshore processing centres within 48 hours of arrival, a new report says today WEDS.

Think-tank Policy Exchange suggested processing centres should be set up on the British overseas territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha if the French government fails to take back migrants.

Alternative locations could include the Channel Islands or a 98 square mile area of Cyprus known as the 'Sovereign Base Areas' which has been maintained under treaty by the UK since 1960, it added.

'Since the aim of the policy would be to discourage attempts to cross the Channel in small boats without leave to enter the UK, immediate return to France is the best policy, if available,' the report said.

Channel migrants should be deported to offshore processing centres within 48 hours of arrival, a report will say today. Pictured: Migrants picked up from the Channel arrive in Dover last month

Channel migrants should be deported to offshore processing centres within 48 hours of arrival, a report will say today. Pictured: Migrants picked up from the Channel arrive in Dover last month

A record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year by taking small boats across the Channel, a 200 per cent increase on 2020's tally

A record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year by taking small boats across the Channel, a 200 per cent increase on 2020's tally

But if an agreement with France proves impossible the UK Government should introduce what Policy Exchange described as 'Plan B', it went on.

This would see all migrants removed to a British territory overseas after a '48 hour screening' period.

Claims would then be processed by British officials at specially-built centres.

'Anyone ascertained to be a genuine refugee … will be taken from there – as the final stage of their deportation – to a third state which has agreed with the UK to accept refugees deported from UK waters (or the UK),' it went on.

'Thereafter, save in the most exceptional cases, refugees thus resettled will be automatically refused leave to enter the UK for any purpose.'

Ascension Island, in the South Atlantic, was the 'most obviously suitable' location for an offshore processing centre because it has a runway capable of handling large aircraft and also enjoys a mild, stable climate, the report went on.

Among the Channel Islands, it proposed Alderney would be the most suitable.

Director of Policy Exchange, Dean Godson, said: 'It is absolutely clear that we must do something about the ongoing small boats crisis.

'We have people being exploited by ruthless smugglers and traffickers, put in extreme danger, and, tragically, in some cases, losing their lives.

'We cannot allow this to continue.

'At the moment we have thousands of people placing themselves in jeopardy, even though they are already in a safe country, trying to cross the Channel. It is vital we now end the incentive to do so.'

How many migrants reached Britain in 2021, by month? 
January 223
February 308
March 831
April 751
May 1,619
June 2,179
July 3,510
August 3,012
September 4,652
October 2,671
November 6,869
December 1,770
Total 28,395

The think-tank's 44-page study said joint UK-EU patrols in the Channel would be 'the best possible response to the problem of small-boats arrivals'.

But it noted: 'At present, France and other EU countries seem unwilling to reach an agreement to this effect.'

The report acknowledged that its 'Plan B' proposal was 'a more radical course of action'.

Each stage of the new process should be explicitly set out in legislation in an attempt to prevent it being watered down or challenged under human rights law, it went on.

'This new approach would be underpinned by a new Act of Parliament, which would specifically mandate each step that ministers and officials had to take,' it said.

'This direct mandate from Parliament would also expressly disapply elements of the Human Rights Act that would otherwise result in years of litigation, and would prevent the successful working of 'Plan B'.'

In parallel with its proposals for migrants who attempt to reach the UK illegally, ministers should also enhance legal routes for asylum seekers in co-operation with the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, it said.

It rejected the idea of opening processing centres for UK asylum claims in France or other safe countries.

Such a move 'would deepen rather than relieve the Channel crossing crisis – they would be a powerful 'pull factor', and virtually all the disappointed applicants would head for the Channel,' the study said.

The Government's new immigration Bill, due to come into force in the next few months, will introduce a two-tier asylum system, streamline the appeals process and introduce stiffer penalties for illegal migrants and people traffickers.

A Government spokesman said: 'The UK's asylum system is broken and has been unreformed for over two decades.

'This Government is reforming our country's approach to illegal entry to the UK and asylum by making the tough decisions to end the overt exploitation of our laws and UK taxpayers.

'For over two decades the public have been crying out for the broken asylum system to be reformed and that's what this Government is delivering through our New Plan for Immigration.

'The Government's Nationality and Borders Bill will make it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and introduce life sentences for those who facilitate illegal entry into the country.

'It will also strengthen the powers of Border Force to stop and redirect vessels, while introducing new powers to remove asylum seekers to have their claims processed outside the UK.'