EPA
News from the NOS•yesterday, 22:58
The British Interior Minister announced on the third day of the Conservative Party Congress that he would further tighten asylum policy. The intention is that no one who enters the country illegally can apply for asylum. “If you enter our country illegally from a safe country, you should be sent back to your country or deported to Rwanda,” said Minister Braverman.
In his own words, he wants to put an end to migrants by boat crossing the English Channel, something his predecessors already aimed at. Anyone who enters the country via that route will be inexorably deported, he says. He also reiterated his party’s earlier goal of reducing the number of people migrating to the UK to “tens of thousands” from the current figure of 239,000.
The right to seek asylum is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Rwanda Plan
Earlier, the new minister admitted to The Telegraph that it is his “dream” and “obsession” to deport migrants to Rwanda. At the congress he expressed his ambition “to start the first flights to Rwanda before Christmas.
The plan for flights to Rwanda comes from the previous government (under Boris Johnson) and was approved by former minister Priti Patel. defended to the bone. The Johnson administration hoped it would discourage migrants. The new minister wants to continue the controversial plan of his predecessor Patel.
Braverman previously acknowledged that the plan for Rwanda “will take a long time” due to legal obstacles. The first flight, which was supposed to leave last June, was canceled at the last minute stopped by the European Court of Human Rights.
Although the UK is no longer part of the European Union, it is still bound by these regulations. Braverman wants to get rid of it in the future, as do many other Tory members.
More patrols on the Channel
Meanwhile, Braverman wants to increase the number of patrols in the stretch of sea between France and England, to intercept boats.
According to the BBC, some 33,500 people have crossed the English Channel since the beginning of this year. This is more than in all of 2021. This mainly concerned migrants from Albania, Iran and Afghanistan. The number could rise to 60,000 this year.
Charity organization Care4Calais reacted with horror to the plans of the Reuters news agency. According to the organization, most of the migrants arriving in the UK are refugees.
The party congress in Birmingham also made headlines yesterday. Then Prime Minister Truss and his Finance Minister Kwarteng announced that the most controversial part of the new economic plans would be scrapped.
However, the government has decided to refrain from lowering the tax for higher incomes. The plan had caused panic in financial markets the week before and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had warned not to pass the tax cut.
