Government confirms immigration overhaul in Queen’s Speech

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Queen’s Speech: Immigration overhaul will block asylum for people who have travelled through ‘safe’ countries such as France and Belgium as ministers try to deter Channel crossings

  • Government has unveiled legislation to overhaul the UK’s immigration system
  • Migrants who passed through ‘safe’ country will be blocked from seeking asylum
  • Shake-up will see migrants arriving illegally treated differently to legal arrivals 

By Jack Maidment, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Migrants who travelled through a ‘safe’ country like France or Belgium on their way to the UK will be blocked from seeking asylum in Britain.

The Government today confirmed a major overhaul of the nation’s immigration system as it set out its plans in the Queen’s Speech.

The changes will mean migrants who ‘travelled through a safe country where they could have reasonably claimed asylum… will not be admitted into the UK asylum system’. 

Legal arrivals and illegal arrivals will be treated differently for the first time so the system ‘does not reward those who enter the UK illegally’. 

The shake-up will also see the asylum system streamlined, creating a ‘one-stop’ process designed to ‘end the cycle of limitless appeals’.

The Government today confirmed a major overhaul of the nation’s immigration system as it set out its plans in the Queen’s Speech. A Border Force vessel is pictured in Dover on April 28

Home Secretary Priti Patel unveiled the Government's 'New Plan for Immigration' in March this year

Home Secretary Priti Patel unveiled the Government’s ‘New Plan for Immigration’ in March this year 

The Government is hoping to deter illegal arrivals to the UK - particularly from dangerous small boat Channel crossings. Pictured is a view of boats used by people thought to be migrants stored at a warehouse facility in Dover after being intercepted in the Channel by Border Force

The Government is hoping to deter illegal arrivals to the UK – particularly from dangerous small boat Channel crossings. Pictured is a view of boats used by people thought to be migrants stored at a warehouse facility in Dover after being intercepted in the Channel by Border Force

No right to settle under Priti Priti’s asylum blitz

  • Migrants who arrive in the UK illegally will no longer have the right to permanently settle here even if they have a strong asylum claim. 
  • Anyone who arrives illegally having passed through a ‘safe country’ will be deemed ‘inadmissible’ to the UK asylum system. 
  • The Government will seek the ‘rapid removal’ of ‘inadmissible cases’ back to the country they travelled to the UK from.  
  • Those who cannot be returned to a safe country will be granted ‘temporary protection status’ for 30 months, with only limited access to benefits and limited family reunion rights. 
  • The Government’s asylum estate will be expanded with the creation of new reception centres to provide accommodation while claims are processed.  
  • Action to improve age assessment measures to safeguard against adults claiming to be children.  
  • A new ‘one-stop’ process for claims which will require people to spell out all protection-related issues in one go to prevent last-minute legal bids to thwart removal of failed asylum seekers. 
  • Maximum sentence for people smugglers raised to life, and to five years for foreign criminals who return to the UK in breach of a deportation order.   
  • New humanitarian routes for the ‘vulnerable’ in ‘immediate danger’.

The Government’s so-called ‘New Plan for Immigration’ was unveiled by Home Secretary Priti Patel in March this year. 

It will mean migrants who arrive in the UK illegally will no longer have the right to permanently settle here even if they have a strong asylum claim.  

Anyone who arrives illegally having passed through a ‘safe’ country will be deemed ‘inadmissible’ to the UK asylum system. 

The Government will seek the ‘rapid removal’ of ‘inadmissible cases’ back to the country they travelled to the UK from.  

Those who cannot be returned to a ‘safe’ country will be granted ‘temporary protection status’ for 30 months, with only limited access to benefits and limited family reunion rights. 

The Government said in the Queen’s Speech that the changes will ‘establish a fairer immigration system that strengthens the United Kingdom’s borders and deters criminals who facilitate dangerous and illegal journeys’. 

Ministers believe the overhaul will ‘increase the fairness and efficacy of our system so that we can better protect and support those in genuine need of asylum’.

The Government is hoping to deter illegal arrivals to the UK – particularly from dangerous small boat Channel crossings – which will then ‘break the business model of criminal trafficking networks and protecting the lives of those they endanger’. 

The ‘New Plan for Immigration’ has been billed by ministers as ‘the most significant overhaul of our asylum system in decades’.  

The Government said that in 2019 there were more than 16,000 detected illegal arrivals to the UK. Some 62 per cent of asylum claimants in 2019 had entered the UK illegally.

Asylum applications in 2019 increased by 21 per cent on the previous year to almost 36,000 which was the highest number recorded since the European migration crisis in 2015/16