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\n Small boats used by migrants to cross the channel are stored at a Home Office facility in Dover. Photo by Dan Kitwood\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\n Small boats used by migrants to cross the channel are stored at a Home Office facility in Dover. Photo by Dan Kitwood\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Why are asylum claims\u00a0rising\u00a0in the UK while they are falling in EU nations?\u00a0On Monday the Home Secretary blamed \u201cthe comparative generosity of our asylum\u00a0offer when compared to many of our European neighbours\u201d.\u00a0Even if this were right, I believe that it\u00a0is the wrong target. We know that Russia and other hostile states are manipulating population flows to destabilise Western democracies. Brexit meant we ripped up our\u00a0returns agreement with the EU. That fact\u00a0is the real push factor, and we must not let the public forget\u00a0that Farage\u00a0\u2013 the great admirer of Vladimir Putin \u2013\u00a0was\u00a0behind it.<\/p>\n
Due to\u00a0Brexit, the UK\u00a0is\u00a0no longer held to the Dublin Regulation, the EU returns agreement.\u00a0Field studies have noted that migrants have seen\u00a0this\u00a0as\u00a0a\u00a0positive, feeling that\u00a0the UK would no longer deport them,\u00a0even if they had applied for asylum in another European country.\u00a0This perception\u00a0is the real reason, I believe,\u00a0why\u00a0irregular crossings rose after the UK left the EU\u00a0on 31 January 2020,\u00a0when\u00a0the UK\u00a0saw\u00a0a surge in asylum applications, which continue to rise.\u00a0The current situation is a direct result of Brexit.<\/p>\n
In September, the Prime Minister\u00a0made this very point: linking the rise in small boat crossings to Brexit, describing the crossings as \u201cFarage boats\u201d. But,\u00a0after Reform\u00a0UK\u00a0complained, the Government dropped this line of argument, and it played no role at all in this week\u2019s asylum announcement. I believe that this is a strategic mistake.<\/p>\n
First,\u00a0our\u00a0misdiagnosis\u00a0means we have failed to\u00a0identify the source of the problem.\u00a0By\u00a0moving our emphasis away from fighting organised criminal smuggling\u00a0networks\u00a0to\u00a0effectively blaming\u00a0the rights\u00a0and entitlements\u00a0framework \u2013\u00a0and\u00a0asylum seekers and refugees\u00a0themselves\u00a0\u2013\u00a0we are compounding the demonisation of this group and diminishing our moral authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Second,\u00a0locating\u00a0the correct target means we can\u00a0more easily\u00a0explain that it falls to the\u00a0Labour Government to repair what\u00a0Farage\u2019s\u00a0Brexit broke. By concluding a new returns deal with France,\u00a0this is\u00a0the first time since Brexit that we have had anything resembling a returns deal with an EU state\u00a0since\u00a0the\u00a0Dublin Regulation. We should absolutely commit to making this pilot project work, scale it up and expand it to agreements with other countries, especially Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. This should be our priority. It is the\u00a0measure with the greatest potential to stem dangerous crossings, yet it merited only a short paragraph in the Policy Statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A third\u00a0reason why we must bring Brexit into the equation is that\u00a0a strategy of\u00a0building international co-operation to fix an international problem\u00a0pushes\u00a0back against the\u00a0\u201cBrexit 2.0\u201d\u00a0approach\u00a0of the Conservatives and Reform. They claim that Labour is not going far enough because we are not leaving the ECHR. If dangerous crossings do not abate, they will say that leaving the ECHR is the only option left.\u00a0Making the UK-France deal\u00a0work would show that\u00a0solving this\u00a0issue\u00a0requires\u00a0co-operation with our EU partners. It\u00a0would\u00a0show\u00a0why\u00a0a second retreat from Europe\u00a0would be\u00a0as destructive\u00a0as Brexit was.\u00a0That is how we show we are Great Britain, not Little\u00a0England.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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