Anyone arriving in the UK on a small boat will be denied asylum, according to new legislation set to be unveiled on Tuesday.
“Make no mistake, if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has made “stopping the boats” one of his top priorities, told the Mail on Sunday.
According to the paper, a new “rights brake” could prevent lawyers from using the right to family life to stop deportations.
It was deemed unworkable by refugee advocacy groups.
The new legislation is expected to make asylum claims from those who arrive in the UK on small boats inadmissible.
It would make the home secretary responsible for removing anyone arriving on a small boat to Rwanda or a “safe” third country “as soon as reasonably practicable” and barring them from returning permanently.
Asylum seekers in the United Kingdom currently have the right to seek protection under the UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, the Mail on Sunday reports that a clause in the Illegal Migration Bill is expected to apply a “rights brake,” effectively allowing the conventions to be ignored.
However, it is unclear how the government intends to limit the rights of asylum seekers.
Neither is the pledge to deport asylum seekers simple.
Despite a last-year agreement, no migrants have been sent to Rwanda, and any plans to do so are currently on hold. There is also no agreement in place with the EU regarding returns.
The Refugee Council has accused ministers of breaking the UK’s long-standing commitment under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to give people a fair hearing regardless of how they arrived in the country.