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| Volume 56 Number 13, April 25, 2026 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
On April 23, the government announced a new £662m multi-year partnership with France to tackle what is being called "irregular migration".
Alex Norris, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, in announcing in a written statement what he called the "landmark" deal, outlined that it will see an expansion of "enforcement activity" in northern France [1].
Under the partnership, the number of frontline officers in northern France will be increased, alongside enhanced surveillance capabilities using drones and aircraft, and an expansion of maritime operations to intercept vessels at sea. The deal also provides for additional specialist policing units and greater intelligence sharing to target smuggling networks.
According to BBC News, the number of asylum seekers crossing the Channel this year is down by over one-third. Between January 1 and April 18, 2026, 6,077 people crossed the Channel by small boat, a 35% decrease compared with the corresponding period in 2025.
The Humans for Rights Network, which works in solidarity with people forced to migrate, said in a statement that the new deal between Britain and France is an "abhorrent escalation in tactics that have already produced record violence and fatalities".
Maddie Harris, Director of Humans for Rights Network, said that the deal signifies a new "all time low" with regard to the government's attempts to prevent people from claiming asylum in the UK. She said that it includes "further horrific tactics that will only result in further death and violence, for example an expansion of maritimes tactics - tactics that have in recent months resulted in boats arriving to collect people further out to sea, forcing people to swim to and in some cases being unable to reach these boats causing near drowning and death".
The Minister's statement is characteristic of the way successive governments have been treating people desperately seeking asylum as things and not as human beings. They have done so under cover of bringing "people smugglers" to justice, claiming that "people smuggling" is undermining Britain's border security and putting lives at risk. In the context of tackling illegal migration, the Minister says, "We must restore order and control to our borders."
According to the statement, the deal includes:
" A significant uplift in frontline law enforcement, front-loading deployment in time for the summer. Numbers will increase by 42% to nearly 1,100 law enforcement, intelligence and other frontline officers in Northern France to track down illegal migrants and stop them boarding boats.
" Five specially trained police units, including a new riot police unit, specially trained in the use of riot and crowd control tactics and equipment will be deployed to deal with violent tactics.
" The French will roll out millions of pounds of state-of-the-art worth of drone surveillance, two new helicopters and a new camera system surveillance to track down and intercept people smugglers and illegal migrants.
" Expanding maritime capability to intercept taxi boats at sea. In the last two months, the French have stopped six migrant taxi boats, returning all migrants to France and sentencing five smugglers to prison and deportation. The British government is backing these tactics with a new vessel and an increase of more than 20 additional maritime officers.
The statement boasts that the government's "work with France is complemented by the most far-reaching overhaul of the asylum and migration system in modern times. This programme of reform outlined in Restoring order and control: a statement on the government's asylum and returns policy (CP 1418) is reshaping the UK's protection and settlement offer to make the system faster, firmer and significantly less open to abuse. This government is closing every asylum hotel, moving asylum seekers into basic accommodation including ex-military sites.
There is not a word on the well-being and rights of people seeking asylum in Britain. Instead the Minister dismisses the problems that people who are seeking asylum face - of war, conflict, imperialist aggression, inhuman conditions - in saying, "We have already removed or deported nearly 60,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals since this government took office." This, according to the statement, is delivering "a transformed, results-based partnership with strong safeguards for taxpayers".
The Law Society, for its part, on April 22 called on the government to abandon its plans to replace the First-Tier Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber with a new, independent appeals body staffed by adjudicators. These are plans which the government first announced in November 2025's major policy statement Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government's asylum and returns policy [2].
"Asylum and immigration reforms should focus on the Home Office getting decisions right first time," said Law Society president Mark Evans. "By replacing the experienced professional First-Tier Tribunal with a lay appeals body, with no indication of how it will be independent, the government would damage people's right to a fair hearing. This is particularly concerning as the proposal is being led by the Home Office, a party to the appeals with a vested interest. Previous appeals systems that relied on adjudicators without legal qualifications were ultimately abandoned because they were not fit for purpose. The government should drop these plans. Instead, they should tackle the true causes of delay. This can be done by stabilising asylum policy, raising the quality of Home Office initial decisions, improving efficiency in the current tribunal system and funding legal aid properly."
In related news, on April 14, the House of Lords held a debate on the latest changes to the Immigration Rules, which saw sustained criticism from peers across parties to the government's proposed measures [3].
Opening the debate, Liberal Democrat Lord German moved a motion to regret opposing the Statement of Changes laid on March 5. Among many other changes, the Statement reduces the duration of refugee and humanitarian protection from five years to 30 months and introduces restrictions on student visa routes for nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan to prevent asylum claims. Lord German argued that the measures lacked a coherent plan to reduce the asylum backlog or end the use of asylum hotels, while risking increased bureaucracy, higher costs, and negative impacts on refugee integration.
Lord German warned that reducing the standard period of refugee protection from five years to 30 months would create instability for individuals and families, potentially undermining integration and increasing administrative burdens. He argued that repeated reviews of refugee status could place additional strain on the Home Office and lead to significant costs, referencing external estimates suggesting millions of cases could require reassessment over time. He also raised concerns about the absence of expanded safe routes for refugees and the potential for increased destitution if support provisions are tightened.
The Liberal Democrat peer further questioned whether the proposals were consistent with Britain's obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention, saying: "With these changes, the United Kingdom is undermining its international obligations and turning its back on people in need who could make a positive contribution."
(Source: EIN)
Notes
1. Illegal Migration: Small Boat Crossings
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-04-23/hcws1540
2. Drop plans for new appeals body focus on Home Office decision making
https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/contact-or-visit-us/press-office/press-releases/drop-plans-for-new-appeals-body-focus-on-home-office-decision-making
3. Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules
https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2026-04-14/debates/C29402F7-2444-4DA1-85EF-EE1173799E62/StatementOfChangesInImmigrationRules