Migrant centres to ‘stop the boats’ will not be ready until next year

The rate at which illegal migrants are arriving in Britain has increased since the Government unveiled its plans to stop the boats, new figures show.

Statistics reveal that more asylum seekers have come to Britain in the two months since the legislation was announced than in the previous eight weeks.

Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, tabled the Illegal Migration Bill, which will see asylum seekers who arrive on small boats swiftly deported, on March 7.

The law, along with the Rwanda deal struck last year, would act as a significant deterrent to people making the perilous journey, she said.

The powers will be retrospective, meaning that anyone who entered the UK illegally in the last two months faces removal.

Home Office statistics show 3,399 migrants have arrived in small boats in the 62 days since the bill was announced to Parliament.

In comparison, 3,150 people arrived in the 65 days from the start of the New Year to the tabling of the legislation on March 7.

Tidal surges and storms in the earliest part of the year act as a significant deterrent to crossings, according to Border Force, meaning the numbers for January and February are usually the lowest.

On Sunday, 135 asylum seekers crossed the Channel, and a total of 603 made the dangerous journey in 14 boats over the last week.

A ‘con of a bill’

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “Far from stopping the boats, Channel crossings have only increased since the Home Secretary announced her con of a bill.

“While the Conservatives keep chasing headlines, the crossings will continue, the backlog will grow, and more and more people will be housed in hotels.

“Instead of the Tories’ gimmicks and grandstanding, we need practical, hard work.

“Labour has a serious plan to stop the small boat chaos, fast-tracking safe countries’ cases to clear the backlog and end hotel use, and setting up a cross-border police unit to stop people-smuggler gangs.”

A Home Office source said: “Labour’s plan to stop the boats consists of proposing what we’re already doing, which is to give more money to the National Crime Agency - and even the NCA doesn't think this on its own will solve the small boats crisis.

“Labour’s plan is laughable. The only party that is serious about stopping the boats is the Conservative Party and that’s why the government is getting on with its programme of measures. In the meantime, Labour just carp from the sidelines.”

It won’t happen overnight

Last month, Rishi Sunak conceded that stopping the small boats, which is one of his five key pledges, “won’t happen overnight”.

Ms Braverman said in March that the bill will “allow us to stop the boats that are bringing tens of thousands to our shores in flagrant breach of both our laws and the will of the British people”.

She added: “The only way to stop the boats and deter illegal migration is to make clear that if you arrive here illegally you are not going to be able to stay here.

“This is the only way to deliver the deterrent needed to stop people making these dangerous, unnecessary and illegal crossings.”

Detention centres being reopened

Separately, it emerged on Monday that two new detention centres earmarked for small boat arrivals will not be ready until early next year.

The Government has announced plans to reopen two closed immigration removal centres to add an extra 1,000 places for asylum seekers.

Bringing Haslar in Hampshire and Campsfield House in Oxfordshire back into service would boost the UK’s capacity to detain migrants by 40 per cent.

A Government source told The Times that the delay “means we will still only have a cap of 2,500 and most of those spaces are needed for current immigration offenders, let alone Channel migrants”.

But a Home Office spokesman said the Illegal Migration Bill would make it possible to “remove people as quickly as possible”, reducing the need for spaces.