Britain's Conservative government will this week present a bill providing for the detention and swift deportation of asylum seekers who illegally enter the country on board small boats. There were 45,000 such arrivals last year.
The bill to be presented to parliament on Tuesday includes measures to allow the detention and deportation "as soon as reasonably practicable" of asylum seekers arriving in the country illegally, the Daily Mail newspaper reported on Monday.
According to the report, the legislation contains a condition which will make asylum claims by those arriving on small boats inadmissible.
The government intends to send at least some deportees to Rwanda under a deal agreed last year but which has never been applied after running into legal challenges.
People who arrive illegally will also be barred from returning to the UK for life.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Sunday defended the new legislation, saying in the Sun newspaper that Britain "must stop the boats".
Rapid detention and removal
"If you come here illegally you will be detained and swiftly removed," she said.
"Our laws will be simple in their intention and practice. The only route to the UK will be a safe and legal route."
Secretary for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris, meanwhile, said stemming the flow of migrants across the English Channel also "involves proper conversations that are ongoing" with European countries to ensure would-be asylum seekers are detained "in the first safe country that they come to".
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats a flagship promise ahead of general elections, for which the opposition Labour Party currently leads in opinion polls.
