Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel says she fears the Government could be “overpromising” with its “stop the boats” policy.
The senior Conservative MP suggested ministers need to go further in their overhaul of the immigration system to deter Channel crossings, including by ensuring the Rwanda removal scheme is operating.
Dame Priti also said it is “not good enough” for her successor Suella Braverman to say more Britons should be trained to be fruit pickers to plug demand and lower immigration, adding farmers should be helped to bring in technology to do the job.
More than 8,300 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year.
The number who made the crossing in 2022 reached a record 45,755, prompting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to make tackling small boat crossings a priority for his Government this year.
The Illegal Migration Bill is currently making its way through Parliament and it aims to prevent people from claiming asylum in the UK if they arrive through unauthorised means.
The Government also hopes the changes will ensure detained people are promptly removed, either to their home country or a third country such as Rwanda, although the latter policy has been stalled by legal challenges.
Speaking during a Commons debate on migration, Dame Priti said it is right the UK “increases the efficiency and fairness” of the immigration system to better protect and support those in need of asylum while also “deterring illegal entry into our country”.
She said: “We need to break the business model of the people smugglers, the Government is seeking to do that and it is hard work, there is no one single solution to this.
“But I’m very worried that the Government may be overpromising with just ‘stop the boats’ when clearly you just can’t stop the boats, there are so many other things that need doing – such as offshore processing, bringing the Rwanda scheme to light, life sentences for people smugglers, making it harder for migrants who make these dangerous crossings, but also to stop the repeat and endless last-minute claims that go through our courts, the appeals systems in particular.”
Dame Priti said her 2021 New Plan for Immigration “tried to do a lot of that”, adding: “I hope the Government will continue to pursue those policies.”
Dame Priti earlier expressed concerns about the approach to the labour market.
She said: “I was in government for just over three years and I was a lone voice in calling for a labour market strategy, specifically to support the points-based immigration system.
“It is obvious you need a labour market strategy, this would have sat with the Treasury at the time, the Treasury simply did not do this work – and I do just want to pay credit to the current Chancellor (Jeremy Hunt) who has also picked this point up because we desperately need it.
“Without that we’re going to continue to have labour market shortages and all the problems that colleagues have spoken about.
“We also need to strengthen skills and I’m afraid it’s just not good enough for the Government to say ‘let’s just train more fruit pickers’, people don’t want to pick fruit, that’s a statement of the obvious now.
“And as a Government that invests a lot in technology why are we not giving farmers capital allowances to actually help them bring in technology to start picking fruit and vegetables in the way that many of our competitors do as well?”
Mr Sunak has promised to abolish the backlog of around 92,000 asylum claims by the end of 2023, but Ms Braverman told MPs on Wednesday that the target will not be met at the “current pace”
Closing the debate, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “I am confident that we will be able to eliminate the legacy backlog over the course of this year. And we put in place a number of further measures recently.”
He added: “We are spending a great deal of money on things like hotels, primarily, to be honest to assist young men who have been in a place of safety like France, to come to the United Kingdom to continue their lives here.
“Those resources could be used far better upstream to support people in and around conflict zones whether that’s through international organisations like the UNHCR or otherwise.”
Outside of Parliament, Mr Sunak acknowledged there is “lots of work to do” to reduce asylum claim numbers as he joined immigration enforcement officers on a raid in north west London.
Mr Sunak said the raids are an “important strand of our work, to stop the boats and tackle illegal migration”, noting resources have been increased for immigration enforcement.
He added: “But we’re not complacent.
“There’s lots of work to do, which is why it’s so important that we pass our Bill through Parliament, our Stop The Boats Bill, which will mean that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay.
“We will be able to detain you and then swiftly remove you.”
Ms Braverman also met French interior minister Gerald Darmanin in London.
The pair discussed UK-French co-ordination on topics including joint work tackling illegal migration and stopping the boats in the Channel.
