The Government is reviewing how international human rights law is applied to migration cases, Yvette Cooper said, ahead of convening a summit with other countries aimed at tackling people-smuggling gangs.
Ministers are reviewing how article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – the right to family life – applies to migration law, the Home Secretary signalled.
The ruling has been used to halt the deportation of migrants from the UK, including an Albanian man who was able to remain partly because of his young son’s aversion to foreign chicken nuggets.
The Home Secretary will lead a gathering of ministers and enforcement staff from 40 countries in London on Monday and Tuesday to discuss international co-operation on illegal migration, as well as supply routes, criminal finances and online adverts for people smuggling.
Ahead of the meeting, she was asked by the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme if she could confirm reports that ministers are reviewing how the ECHR applies to migration law.
Media reports in recent weeks have suggested the Government wants to follow the lead of Denmark, which is said to take a tougher stance on how the right to family life is applied to migration cases.
Ms Cooper replied: “Well, we continue to support international law. That is really important, and it’s because we support international law that we’ve managed to get new agreements with France and Germany.
“There have been some cases that do raise some real significant concerns, and that is also about the way in which the immigration asylum system operates.”
She added: “It’s about the application, including of article eight, as the Prime Minister has said, so we are reviewing all of this area to make sure that, really, the immigration asylum system works effectively in the way that Parliament meant it to, and make sure that there is a sort of proper sense of control in the system.”
At the coming week’s migration summit, criminal finances will be a focus of discussions, which will look at how to follow the money of smugglers globally and to share approaches from different countries.
Hundreds of millions are believed to be transferred illicitly through the Hawala system, for example, which is a legitimate means of transferring money around the world, but is also used in payments linked to Channel crossings.
Countries including Albania, Vietnam and Iraq – where migrants have travelled from to the UK – will join the talks as well as France, the US and China.
A record number of people have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel so far this year.
The Government is also expanding right to work checks to cover casual, temporary workers in amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
The legislation is continuing through Parliament with plans to introduce new criminal offences and hand counter terror-style powers to police and enforcement agencies to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.
The addition announced on Sunday will widen the right to work scheme for gig economy workers not currently covered in existing laws.
Liable businesses could be fined up to £60,000, or face closures, director disqualifications, and even up to five years in prison, if checks are not carried out.
Ms Cooper told the BBC employers need to “take action that prevents the illegal working in the first place”.
She said: “We’ve had a 40% increase in illegal working raids since the election.
“So some of the changes that we’ve made that are having an impact already is a 20% increase in returns, over 19,000 people returned who have no right to be in the UK, and we’ll update those figures shortly, and then also a nearly 40% increase in illegal working raids and arrests.
“But we need to do more because this is not reaching the gig economy where employers don’t have to do eligibility for work checks, and you can end up with criminal gangs promise people illegal work, just as they then take their money.”
Speaking to The Times newspaper, Ms Cooper also signalled she wanted to crack down on the number of people who have arrived in the UK on a student or work visa and have since claimed asylum.
Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart criticised the Government’s decision to scrap the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan after coming to power last year.
Asked about the Government’s plans to expand right-to-work checks, the senior Tory said: “This is the wrong end of the problem.
“The fact of the matter is that when the Government came into power last summer it scrapped the deterrent programme that we had set up, that we had been in the process of implementing.
“It was ready to go, and Labour came in, they won a majority, and they scrapped it. There is now no deterrent programme.”
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