The home secretary, Priti Patel, has repeatedly promised to curb the number of people arriving on UK shores in small boats by making this route “unviable” but more than 27,000 refugees have crossed the Channel this way, up from 8,500 in 2020.
The Home Office is now planning to introduce a tagging scheme for asylum seekers after a reportedly “exasperated” Boris Johnson ordered a review. It is the latest proposal in a string of ideas aimed at clamping down on small boat arrivals, none of which have been successful at curbing numbers so far.
The “turn-around” tactic
In autumn it emerged that Patel was preparing to push small boats carrying migrants back to France, despite warnings from government lawyers that such manoeuvres might be unlawful. The Home Office confirmed that Border Force staff were being trained to employ “turn-around” tactics at sea under plans developed for two years.
Patel was also seeking to introduce legal protections for Border Force staff sending boats back in the event of a refugee drowning as a result. The French government rejected the turn-around plan on the grounds it could endanger lives.
Offshore asylum processing
Another much-mooted idea was to send asylum seekers to another country, such as Gibraltar or islands in the South Atlantic, while their claims are processed. It triggered cross-party anger. Plans for a “potential offshoring of asylum processing centres for those using clandestine entry routes to the UK” were quickly likened to Australia’s problematic offshoring of asylum seekers to places such as Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Criminalising the steering of small boats
Since the start of 2020, the UK government has been seeking to crack down on Channel crossings by prosecuting people who steer small boats carrying asylum seekers.
But the policy, under which the government brought 67 successful prosecutions related to the piloting of small boats under smuggling laws, was challenged last week, resulting in a defeat for the government.
The court of appeal ruled that convictions of four asylum seekers for driving small boats across the Channel “must be quashed in due course”, citing systemic failings. The judges said convictions of this kind were subject to the prosecution being able to prove that the person accused of steering the boat “knew or had reasonable cause to believe that his act was assisting entry or attempted entry into the United Kingdom without leave”.
Tagging
Under the Home Office’s “new plan for immigration”, Patel is expected to announce early in the new year that small boat arrivals will be electronically tagged.
Ministers hope tagging working-age people will make it harder for them to work illegally while their asylum claims are processed, and make it easier to remove those whose application for asylum has failed. The plan has been described as “desperate and draconian” by the chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
Cooperation deals with France
Patel has also tried to solve the issue financially: so far, she has agreed two multimillion-pound deals with the French authorities – one for more than £28m in November 2020 and one for at least £54m in July – to increase surveillance of the 93 miles of French coastline from which attempts to reach the UK have been launched.
Repeated requests from the UK government for joint Channel patrols with the help of Border Force and French navy personnel have been rejected by France.
Campaigners for refugees have claimed that opening safe and legal application routes for asylum seekers hoping to come to the UK – an option that does not exist for almost all people seeking refuge in Britain – would deter many from attempting to make the dangerous crossing in small boats.
The Home Office still requires people to physically reach the UK before an asylum application can be lodged.
