Labour will seek to put Rishi Sunak’s inability to secure an EU migrant returns deal under fresh scrutiny with a vote on the government’s migration bill.
The bill will return to the Commons on Monday for its committee stage, where MPs will examine it line by line over two days. The prime minister has been told to expect the biggest rebellion of this parliament, with at least 60 Conservative MPs likely to vote against the bill amid concerns that it is not tough enough.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and the shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, have proposed an amendment to the bill that would force the government to publish a framework for a new deal with EU states within three months of the legislation passing. Labour’s proposals will also push for the Border Force to regain access to international databases lost when Britain left the EU.
Cooper accused the Conservatives of chasing headlines instead of “setting out serious solutions”.
She said: “We need new action to tackle dangerous boat crossings which are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. But this bill is a con which will make the chaos worse, making it easier for the criminal, trafficking gangs, and increasing the costly asylum backlog even further.
“Instead Labour is calling on the government to secure a proper new agreement with France, Belgium and other European countries to prevent boat crossings – including new cross-border police and security arrangements to go after the criminal gangs, a new returns agreement and controlled, safe asylum arrangements like family reunion for unaccompanied children.”
Sunak travelled to Paris earlier this month to repair strained relations with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, but he was not able to push on pursuing a returns deal with the EU or France. Instead, Macron secured a multi-year settlement for more French border patrols, including 500 additional officers and new drones.
Keir Starmer said Sunak’s failure to reach a returns deal would only “make a bad situation worse”, claiming there would be “people who can’t go through the system, can’t be returned, and they will therefore end up in hotels and other accommodation at the taxpayers’ expense”.
On Friday, some Tories urged the home secretary, Suella Braverman, to agree to ban the European court of human rights (ECHR) from blocking deportation flights, with a number of “red wall” MPs fearing they could lose their seats if Sunak does not deliver on his promise to stop the small boats crossing the Channel.
The former chancellor George Osborne has said leaving the ECHR would be a “disaster” for the Conservatives. Speaking on Channel 4’s Andrew Neil show, the he said resorting to such a move would “blow it all up” rather than solve the small boats problem.
“It’s a complete red herring. It’s not got anything to do with solving the problem. One thing we have learned from Brexit is that you don’t solve all your immigration problems by pulling out of international agreements, you have to go back and work with countries like France. Pulling out of the ECHR would blow all of that up,” Osborne said.
Moderate Tories have urged the government to create safe legal routes for asylum seekers to use instead of them relying on small boats, and to ensure better protections for victims of modern slavery.
“A significant amount of 2019 ‘red wall’ MPs already see their future working as an accounts director for a medium-sized public affairs firm, so they want to get onboard and back [Sir Bill Cash’s] amendment,” a source said.
Starmer’s plan to tackle the small boats issue involves securing a deal with EU countries on returns, more enforcement against people-smuggling gangs, and clearing the asylum backlog.
The Conservative MP Tim Loughton is leading a moderate group rebellion to force the government to launch new safe and legal routes for asylum seekers. As many as 20,000 refugees could seek asylum in Britain every year in a new partnership with the UN’s refugee agency, the Telegraph reported.
Publicly, the prime minister has said he will not announce any new routes until he has “got a grip” on illegal migration and brought down the number of small boat crossings in the Channel.
