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The UK government on Thursday released a report on available routes for migrants seeking to enter the country but it did not include proposals for any new so-called safe and legal pathways.
Campaigners have long criticised the government over the lack of options for people fleeing war or political oppression to reach Britain, arguing that this has left many with no choice but to make dangerous trips across the Channel on small boats.
The Illegal Migration Act, which came in to effect in July, bars anyone entering the UK via irregular routes from claiming asylum. Ahead of the law being passed, MPs from all the main political parties had called for the creation of more safe channels for migrants whose lives were under threat to enter the UK and for existing resettlement schemes to be expanded.
This led the government to commit to publishing “a report detailing existing and proposed additional safe and legal routes for those in need of protection” within six months of the legislation coming into effect. It also pledged to implement any proposed new routes “as soon as practicable and in any event by the end of 2024”.
But Thursday’s report contained no additional routes. In a written statement, home secretary James Cleverly said the government would “keep under review” whether it was “able to do more to support vulnerable refugees and whether we need to consider new safe and legal routes”.
There are currently no safe and legal routes by which to travel to the UK to claim asylum, given that there are no available visas for this purpose and it is not possible to apply for asylum in the UK without being present in the country. However, there are several humanitarian schemes for people seeking protection in the UK.
The latest available statistics show that in the eight years to March 2023, more than half a million people entered the UK via these humanitarian schemes, the vast majority of them on specific visa schemes set up for people from Ukraine and Hong Kong.
“The government won’t stop the boats if it doesn’t significantly increase safe routes for refugees, rather than pushing ahead with the unlawful, costly and ineffective Rwanda plan,” said Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council.
“If you are a refugee fleeing from Sudan or Iran, there is no safe route, so you have no choice other than taking a dangerous journey paying people smugglers.”
The Refugee Council released a report on Thursday noting only 766 refugees were resettled under the government’s global resettlement scheme in the year to September 2023, the lowest number in more than a decade.
Last year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made “stopping the boats” of asylum seekers entering the country one of five Conservative pre-election pledges, and a scheme to send anyone arriving in this way to Rwanda was presented as the linchpin, acting as a deterrent to would-be migrants.
In October last year, the government announced it was initiating consultations with local authorities on plans to determine an annual cap on the number of refugees resettled in the UK each year, as set out in the Illegal Migration Act. This cap is set to be agreed in parliament ahead of a January 2025 launch.