This week the Government introduced a raft of new, positive measures to deliver on its promise to tackle illegal immigration.
In the House of Commons, Greg Smith MP pushed the Prime Minister to ensure existing powers of detention in the Nationality & Borders Act 2022 are fully utilised: at the very minimum for those accused or convicted of serious crimes.
Measures announced included:
1) A new deal with Albania to speed up the return of Albanian asylum seekers. Albanians make up a third of those arriving in the UK by small boats.
2) A new, dedicated and unified Small Boats Command Centre to step up how we police the channel, bringing together our military and civilian capabilities in a coordinated response to intelligence, channel boat crossing, processing, and enforcement.
3) The doubling of the National Crime Agency European Immigration Crime budget, and 200 additional staff to step up immigration enforcement. These extra resources will increase the number of raids on illegal workforces by 50%.
4) Moving up to 10,000 people out of expensive hotel accommodation, and into low-cost sites—like disused holiday parks and former student halls.
5) Doubling the number of asylum caseworkers, and radically streamlining the asylum process, with the aim of tripling staff productivity and wiping out the backlog of initial asylum decisions by the end of 2023.
