Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Acknowledged
Pursue agreement with EU on responsibility for asylum seekers arriving from Europe.
Recommendation
Following the Minister’s admission that from January to November 2021 the UK returned only five people who had arrived on small boats, it is clear that the UK’s arrangements for the return of failed or inadmissible asylum seekers to Europe have collapsed. We consider that there is no prospect of the promised bilateral deals with former EU partners. The Government must pursue an agreement with the EU on responsibility for asylum seekers who arrive in the UK from another EU country as the most effective and transparent way to deal with returns for irregular migration across the Channel. (Paragraph 76) Migrants and the United Kingdom
Government Response Summary
The government states it remains committed to securing effective returns arrangements either bilaterally with EU Member States or at the EU-level, and continues to press the EU to work with the UK on shared solutions.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
asylum in the UK, or to any other safe third country. Clearly where individuals have passed through a safe EU country en-route to the UK, they should have claimed protection there. The ability to return to Europe asylum seekers whose claims are inadmissible is a critical deterrent that will help break the business model of smugglers, including those facilitating dangerous crossings of the Channel. The Dublin Regulation does not work as effectively as it should, and was not a panacea when we were part of it. For example, in our last three years of membership, there were 10,600 illegal crossings to the UK—all from migrants who had passed through safe EU countries —of which only 287 were successfully transferred out via the regulations. The Government remains committed to securing effective returns arrangements bilaterally with EU Member States—as set out in the UK-EU Joint Political Declaration of 31 December 2020—or at EU-level. Illegal migration is a shared challenge, and we continue to press the EU to work with the UK to reach shared solutions, however this relies on the willingness of our European partners to engage and cooperate to solve the problem collectively. Migrants and the United Kingdom