Brexit: David Cameron admits it was easier to return migrants to France before the UK left the EU

David Cameron has effectively admitted that it was easier to tackle the asylum crisis and return migrants to France before Brexit.

The Foreign Secretary is currently touring central Asia, and was asked by ITV’s Anushka Asthana whether he would have used Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda policy while he was Prime Minister. Sunak has just passed legislation in Parliament which he hopes will allow him to deport asylum seekers to the east African country for resettlement. Critics have said the scheme is cruel and ineffective.

Cameron was asked: “Hand on heart, if this had come up when you were PM, would you have gone for this policy?” Noticeably, he did not immediately say yes.

“Well, we had a totally different situation because we had a situation where you could return people directly to France. Now, I'd love that situation to be the case again, that's the most sensible thing,” he told Asthana an interview for ITV News and ITV's Peston. “People land on a beach in Kent, you take them straight back to France, you therefore break the model of the people smugglers.”

When asked why the government doesn’t bring back that policy, the Foreign Secretary responded: “Well, that's not available. It's simply not possible.” Cameron gave a vague answer when asked if this was because of Brexit, saying it’s “because of the situation we’re in because of the attitude of others and all the rest of it”. He added the only option now is to go with Sunak’s Rwanda plan.

The scheme Cameron is referring to was called the Dublin Regulation, which was an EU law which set out which country was responsible for processing asylum claims. Usually, this was the first EU country the asylum seeker entered. So if migrants crossed the Channel on small boats, the government could often return them to France.

The UK left the Dublin Regulation in December 2020, just before leaving the EU at the start of 2021. Since then, Britain has struggled to return migrants to EU member states, particularly France.

The EU however has also changed its asylum rules, with a new pact which states no country should take disproportionate responsibility. This was to avoid countries closer to Africa and the Middle East, like Greece and Italy, from taking on the entire burden.

Sunak frequently describes the migration crisis as a “global issue” and argues for a global solution. Could it be another thing that would be easier to solve as part of the EU?

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.