Yvette Cooper has failed to guarantee that the number of small boat crossings will come down by this time next year, amid growing public anger of the government’s handling of the issue.
Public discontent with the government’s handling of the small boats crisis and the housing of asylum seekers in hotels has led to a wave of protests over the summer, as well as criticism from Labour’s political opponents after the number of people crossing the Channel reached a record high this year.
Asked whether the numbers of people making the dangerous crossing will still be going up in a year’s time, the home secretary refused to make “grand promises” – claiming that is what the previous government did and failed to deliver on them.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Anybody sensible who talks to you about this will say there’s no one single silver bullet that will deal with the challenges that we face around border security, around the scale of migration, around the asylum system… We did inherit a system that was in chaos.
“There isn’t a single silver bullet, but there are lots of things that can make a difference.
“You’re right, the difference in the approach that I’m taking compared to the previous government is they used to make these grand, sweeping claims, and they’re not delivering any of them.
“They used to make grand promises that everything was suddenly going to be solved, whether it was by Rwanda or whether it was by cancelling the asylum system or and so on.”
Asked whether she agrees that people have run out of patience with the government, Ms Cooper responded: “Well, it’s only going to be through multiple changes and through hard graft that we’re going to make progress.
“And you know, you can just stand on the shoreline and you can shout at the sea, and that’s what I think opposition parties have been doing. Or you can get on with the hard graft and roll up our sleeves and just do step by step and keep working on this, and we’re determined to do so.”
Last month, figures showed that the number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel topped 25,000 this year – the earliest point in a calendar year at which the 25,000 mark has been passed since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018.
Over summer, the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, became the focal point of several demonstrations and counter-protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl last month. He has denied the charges.
In an attempt to bring down the number of people crossing the Channel, the government has agreed a returns deal with France, which ministers say will begin later this month, as well as unveiling a number of changes to the asylum system.
But Ms Cooper also declined to guarantee that migrants will definitely be sent back across the Channel in September as part of the returns agreement.
The first returns are “expected” this month, the home secretary said, but speaking to Sky News she was cautious not to promise deportations will go ahead during September.
“We expect the first returns to take place this month. But I’ve always said from the very beginning on this, it’s a pilot scheme and it needs to build up over time”, she said.
On Monday, Ms Cooper announced plans to suspend all new applications under the refugee family reunion route as part of a series of measures to clear the asylum backlog and clamp down on the number of people crossing the Channel.
The changes mean that refugees will be covered by the same family migration rules and conditions as everyone else while a new, tougher framework for family reunions is drawn up.
Refugees will now have to apply through the standard family scheme, which applies to British citizens. This requires them to demonstrate a minimum joint income of £29,000 per year before their foreign partner can join them in the UK.
Giving a statement in the Commons on Monday, the first day back after a summer recess that was marred by growing public anger over migration, the home secretary said that a new independent body will be created to speed up asylum appeals, as well as announcing that the first returns of those who come to the UK on small boats will begin later this month under its deal with France.
More comprehensive reforms to family reunion will be outlined in an asylum statement later this year and implemented by spring, she said, arguing that people-smuggling gangs were using family reunion rules to promote illegal crossings to the UK.
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