Small boats crisis latest: Labour MPs will be instructed to vote against Illegal Migration Bill

Starmer questioned whether the Tories were really dedicated to fixing the problem.“If he was serious about stopping the boats, he’d actually steal our plan on stopping the boats, smash the gangs, sort out the returns and clean up the utter mess.”

He asked: “Nobody on this side of the House wants open borders. On that side they’ve lost control of the border. He’s promised the country that this Bill will stop all small boat crossings, no ifs, no buts. Sounds like more talk – so, in the interest of adequate action, when will he achieve that?”

Sunak would not be drawn on when he would stop small boat crossings, but said his plan would be implemented as soon as it passed through Parliament. “So, I look forward to the honourable gentleman’s support. The reality is on this issue, [Starmer] has been on the wrong side… his entire career.

He continued: “He described all immigration law as racist. He said it was a mistake to control immigration. And he has never, ever voted for tougher asylum laws.”

The Labour leader slammed Sunak’s plans as nothing new, and says they have been tried before - and failed. “I voted against his legislation last time because I said it wouldn’t work, since it became law the numbers have gone up, he’s proved me right.

"The Prime Minister says they will detain people who aren’t eligible to claim asylum here and then return them. Well, they already tried that under the last legislation.” 

Starmer said in 2022, 18,000 people were deemed ineligible to apply for asylum, and asked Sunak how many of them had actually been returned.

Rishi Sunak replied: “As a result of the plans we’ve brought forward we have almost doubled the number of people returned this year… precisely because of the law that the Conservative government passed last year they have now been able to arrest more than double the number of people they did before, 397 in the last six months.”

The Prime Minister said Starmer wanted to scrap the Rwanda deal, and “even argued against deportation flights''. He accused his opponent of being “just another leftie lawyer standing in our way.”

The Labour leader claimed the actual number of the 18,000 people deemed ineligible for asylum last year returned was just 21. “What happens to the rest? They sit in hotels and digs for months on end at the taxpayers’ expense.”

Sunak had promised to end the “hotel farce”, Starmer said. “That’s the talk, but because of his mess there are thousands of people who can’t claim asylum and can’t be returned, so where does he actually think they’re going to end up?”

The Prime Minister answered: “We’ve actually got a clear plan to stop people coming here in the first place. Labour have absolutely no plan on this issue because they simply don’t want to tackle the problem.

“We introduced tougher sentences for people smugglers, they opposed it, we signed a deal with Rwanda, they opposed it, we are deporting foreign offenders as we speak, they oppose it… In fact, he opposed every single step of what we’ve done to try and stop this problem.”

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn asked: “On International Women’s Day, can I ask the Prime Minister to reconfirm that under his proposed new asylum laws women who are sex-trafficked to the UK on a small boat by a criminal gang will not be afforded protection under our modern slavery laws?”

Sunak replied: “It’s precisely because we want to target our resources and our compassion on the world’s most vulnerable people that we need to get a grip of this system, make sure that we have control over our borders, make sure our system and resources are not overwhelmed, so that we can help the people most in need.”

Flynn said he would “take that as a yes” that women who were victims of sex trafficking would not be protected under modern slavery laws. “What a complete and utter disgrace.”

Sunak echoed the sentiment when asked about Olympic gold medallist Sir Mo Farrah, who last year revealed he had been trafficked to the UK as a child.

Labour MP Imran Hussain asked whether under the new “dystopian, far-right appeasing, anti-refugee Bill”, others who were trafficked to the UK would still face deportation. “Can the Prime Minister therefore clear up whether Sir Mo Farah… would have been removed under this Bill?”

Sunak replied: “It is precisely because we do want to help the world’s most vulnerable people that we’ve got to stop our system being exploited and overwhelmed by illegal migrants who are being trafficked here by criminal gangs.

“There is nothing compassionate, there is nothing fair, about supporting that system continuing, and that’s why our new laws are the right way to deal with this.”

Gary Lineker’s criticism of new asylum policy was “not acceptable” and “disappointing”, Downing Street has said.

The Prime Minister’s press secretary told reporters: “It’s obviously disappointing to see someone whose salary is funded by hard-working British (licence-fee) payers using that kind of rhetoric and seemingly dismissing their legitimate concerns that they have about small boats crossings and illegal migration.

“But beyond that, it’s up to the BBC, who I think have said today that they’ll be having a conversation with Gary Lineker and it’s not for me to comment further.”

She was not aware of plans to make a formal complaint to the BBC, saying it was a matter for the broadcaster.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman has disputed criticism of Rishi Sunak’s asylum plans from the United Nations' Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

UNHCR claimed the Bill would be a clear breach of the Refugee Convention, and would extinguish the right to seek refugee protection in the UK for those who arrive irregularly, "no matter how genuine and compelling their claim may be".

The Downing Street spokesman said: “Obviously we disagree. We recognise these are new approaches but we think they meet our international obligations.

“We stand ready to defend them in court.”

A Labour spokesman has confirmed to reporters in Westminster on Wednesday that the party’s MPs would be instructed to vote against the Illegal Migration Bill.