James Cleverly has called for an “international response” to stem the flow of migrants to countries including the UK and Italy.
The Foreign Secretary said Britain and the European Union are “very focused” on working to stabilise North African nations from which many people are fleeing.
It came as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” crossing the Channel faced a series of setbacks, with a record number of crossings detected for the month of June; his Illegal Migration Bill suffering a string defeats during its passage through the House of Lords; and his plan to deport migrants to Rwanda being dealt a blow by an appeal court ruling.
Mr Cleverly hailed closer UK-EU ties during a visit to Brussels, which are hoped can survive future post-Brexit disagreements on thorny issues including migration.
There needs to be an international response to this because it is an inherently international issue— James Cleverly, Foreign Secretary
Speaking to the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, he also noted the “very, very strong bilateral relationship” between the UK and Italy which has seen long-standing “goodwill turn into really serious deliverables”.
The two nations are “working together on issues around illegal migration, for example, which has a huge impact on Italy as a Mediterranean country really very much in the front line, as well as the UK where we’re seeing real challenges,” he said.
He said “we completely respect that these migration issues are an EU competency” but noted that “member states within the EU will have different challenges with regard to this”, pointing to Italy’s location across the sea from North Africa.
“We’re all experiencing the challenges of illegal migration, the evil of people smugglers, these are things that do not just affect the UK and we recognise that there needs to be an international response to this because it is an inherently international issue.”
He said the UK, EU and Italy are focused on “trying to stabilise the countries that people are trying to escape from” and “bringing peace and prosperity to those countries”.
“It’s about disrupting these kind of people-smuggling routes.
“And it’s about looking at what we do with people who have illegally come to our country and how we can deal with the unprecedented numbers of people which is fair, which is humane, but it’s also decisive, because this is something that affects all countries, not just Italy, not just the UK, but all kind of European countries or developed economies like ours.”
Britain has to be “proactive in our relationships” with individual member states as it no longer has the “convenience” of holding regular meetings in the margins of EU summits since Brexit, Mr Cleverly said.
Mr Sunak and far-right Italian premier Giorgia Meloni vowed to work together on tackling migration as they hailed the “very strong” relations between their two countries during her visit to London in April.
Meanwhile, Downing Street said ministers remain “fully committed to all aspects” of the Illegal Migration Bill following the 11 defeats in the Lords.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We remain committed to stopping the boats and to do that we need to make clear that if you come here illegally you will be removed to a safe country.
“We have to break the cycle to deter people from making these dangerous journeys, being exploited by gangs.
“That’s what the Bill is designed to do, it was voted through by the Commons and we remain committed to defending it robustly.”
