They are calling for an asylum-seeking Bill that ends all claims if migrants pass through safe countries. The newly formed Common Sense Group of MPs warned the Prime Minister that the UK’s asylum system “is unfit for purpose”. In a letter to the PM they said: “It is strikingly clear that this Government should introduce a Bill to overhaul the asylum system as a matter of urgency. Nothing less than root and branch reform is acceptable.
“Only through primary legislation which supersedes unhelpful case law can we take back control of our borders.”
The group of MPs and peers, many of whom recently met Priti Patel to discuss the migrant crisis, called for the legislation to prohibit “claims from asylum seekers who have travelled through “safe” countries and are not lodged immediately after the individual has arrived in the UK”.
They added that “a strict time limit on the application process” for which migrants can claim asylum “would act as a significant deterrent to those intending to make repeated bogus claims with the expectation that physical arrival in Britain means they will likely never leave”.
The Bill should also include measures that asylum seekers “should be limited to a single application” in order to “prevent repeated, vexatious claims”.
“In all cases in which the applicant’s claim is rejected, deportation should follow rapidly.”
The letter, whose signatories include Sir John Hayes, the former security minister, Sir Edward Leigh warns that the UK’s offer of “refuge to those at genuine risk of persecution is a long and noble national commitment”.
“Now, each and every day, that noble cause is undermined by those determined to take advantage of the compassion and generosity of the British people,” the letter adds.
Downing Street yesterday said that the UK will continue to grant asylum to those in “genuine need”.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “The UK has a proud record of granting those in genuine need of asylum and we will continue to do so.
“We have many resettlement schemes which are currently ongoing where we take refugees directly from conflict zones and help them to rebuild their lives in the UK and we will continue to do so.”
He added: “We’ve resettled more refugees than any other country in Europe and since 2015 we have resettled more than 25,000 vulnerable refugees from conflict zones and that work will continue.”
“As the Home Secretary has set out, these crossings serve as a reminder of how dangerous they are and we are committed to tackling the illegal routes and tackling the gangs and smugglers that lie behind them.”
It comes as record numbers of asylum seekers have crossed the Channel to reach the UK this year, with more than 5,000 migrants having crossed in small boats so far in 2020.
Earlier this month the Home Secretary pledged to make this “incredibly dangerous route unviable”, while just last week a Sudanese migrant thought to be 16 died in an attempt to cross the Channel in a small boat.
The Home Secretary said the “horrendous incident serves as a brutal reminder of the abhorrent criminal gangs and people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people. Working together, we are determined to stop them”.
Sir John, who heads up the Common Sense Group, said that solving the migrant crisis had to be “a national priority”.
“The public deserve nothing less than a crackdown on illegal immigration and measures to crush the people traffickers and smugglers who cause such misery,” he said.
