Illegal Migrants should be DENIED asylum rights, says Grant Shapps

Migrants arriving in England via Channel crossings in a dinghy should be DENIED any asylum rights, says Grant Shapps

• Business Secretary Grant Shapps has said illegal migrants ‘shouldn’t get rights’ 
• Additionally, Rishi Sunak is reportedly prepared to take Britain out of the ECHR
• The Prime Minister was warned 65,000 illegal migrants are expected to arrive 

Cross-Channel arrivals on small boats should be denied any asylum rights, Grant Shapps said yesterday.

The Business Secretary said that anyone arriving in Britain via an illegal route ‘shouldn’t get rights’.

Asked if that included banning people from appealing against deportation, he said: ‘You shouldn’t get rights if you consent and you come here through illegal routes.

‘What we must have is a situation where people can come here legally and claim asylum, but not illegally.’

It came amid reports Rishi Sunak is prepared to take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if judges in Strasbourg try to frustrate his plans to toughen up UK asylum rules. 

Business Secretary Grant Shapps said that anyone arriving in Britain via an illegal route ‘shouldn’t get rights’

The Sunday Times reported the Prime Minister is taking the robust stance after being warned that 65,000 illegal migrants are expected to come to the country this year.

This would be a near 50 per cent surge on last year, according to official estimates, when 45,000 claimed asylum. Many of them did so after crossing the Channel in small boats.

Mr Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman are finalising plans for new immigration legislation which is expected to be the most draconian yet. 

It will be unveiled within weeks and officials say it will take Britain to the ‘boundaries’ of what is legally possible within international law. 

But senior officials say the Prime Minister is open to taking Britain out of the ECHR if judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg rule that the new plans are unlawful.

One Government source told the Daily Mail: ‘Solving this problem will not be quick or easy, but it is the right thing to do – which is why we will stop the exploitation of our system and break the business model of people smugglers putting lives at risk for profit.’ 

A source familiar with Mr Sunak’s thinking told The Sunday Times: ‘This Bill will go as far as possible within international law.

‘We are pushing the boundaries of what is legally possible, while staying within the ECHR. And we are confident that when it is tested in the courts, we will win.

The Sunday Times reported the Prime Minister is taking the robust stance after being warned that 65,000 illegal migrants are expected to come to the country this year

One Government source told the Daily Mail that they will ‘stop the exploitation of our system and break the business model of people smugglers putting lives at risk for profit’

‘But if this legislation… is found to be lawful by our domestic courts, but it’s still held up in Strasbourg, then we know the problem is not our legislation or our courts.’

Mr Shapps said that the UK was ‘incredibly open to genuine refugees’.

But speaking to Sky News, he added: ‘What we can’t have is boats arriving here with illegal gangs and gang masters people-trafficking people here, and be impotent in return.’

Any attempt to pull Britain out of the ECHR would be fiercely opposed by a majority of MPs and peers and is highly unlikely to happen before the next election due in 2024.

But Mr Sunak could decide to make it a key pledge in the next Conservative manifesto to draw a clear dividing line with Labour.

The new legislation will also rewrite modern slavery laws to stop arrivals exploiting the system, with many suspected of spuriously claiming to be victims to prevent being deported.

The Government has already won a High Court ruling that the Rwanda programme is legal, which campaigners are trying to overturn in the Court of Appeal.

No 10 is expecting the European court to rule on the Rwanda plan by the end of this year and the new immigration Bill in early 2024.

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