England (Commonwealth Union) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made one of his most firm statements so far on the migration crisis in parliament. The issue of illegal migration has had a variety of opinions on who is to blame making it far from a simple straight forward solution. The increase in Albanian illegal immigrants has drawn more of the government’s attention on Albania. Refugee advocates have claimed that Albanians entering Britain do so to escape persecution, however opponents of illegal immigration have categorically dismissed this claim. The opponents have argued that Albania is not a war zone and the illegal immigrants arriving in Britain come through safe European destinations, which was a view that was echoed by the British Prime Minister in his statement.
The PM indicated that early next year a new legislation will be brought in to make it unambiguously clear that arriving in the UK illegally will mean that staying in the country is not an option. “Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your claim for asylum will be considered,” PM Sunak said. “And you will no longer be able to frustrate removal attempts with late or spurious claims or appeals. We will also put them on a statutory footing to ensure the UK’s treatment of Albanian arrivals is no different from that of Germany or France,” he added.
The Prime Minister also indicated that the only avenue for entering the UK was for asylum via safe and legal avenues.
The statement has been met with somewhat doubt in the public with many stating that they have had heard tough statements before with no action. However, certain optimism was met with some of the PM’s former colleagues with others expressing concerns on the feasibility of the statement. Despite the skepticism on the statement, the rate of implementation of the points on the statement are likely to be the key focus in the coming months ahead.
