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Rishi Sunak has rejected calls for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to address migration crossings, but urged European countries to do more to resolve the crisis. I was.
Ahead of the Anglo-French summit in Paris on Friday, the prime minister also defended plans to pay France millions more pounds to boost cooperation at the border.
Mr Sunak this week unveiled a new law limiting the ability of asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats to access the UK immigration system.
At the time, the Home Secretary acknowledged that it would violate the UK’s ECHR commitments, but Conservative MPs called on the UK to renounce the treaty altogether.
But Sunak, speaking to reporters on the Eurostar train to Paris, said:
“We have worked hard to ensure that the law is complied with, and we believe it will succeed, as it did at the Rwandan High Court and Court of Appeals at the end of April. We are here.”
The policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing has been repeatedly challenged in court, but so far the government has won court hearings.
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The prime minister plans to announce that he and the French president will work more closely at the border to stop migrants before they cross the Channel in exchange for funding from the UK Treasury.
Responding to Conservative anger at wanting the French to bear all the costs, Mr Sunak said: We all know he spends £5.5m a day plus hotel bills. The best way to stop it is to stop people coming in the first place.
“The other thing I want to say is that this is a communal problem. This is a shared and joint effort to reduce illegal immigration more generally, not a challenge facing France and ourselves, but a broader European one. “
He added: Or
“It’s another form, a conversation with Frontex, the EU border agency. It’s another set of dialogue that happens. And working with people more upstream, especially in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. is also what we need to do.”
Other European countries are trying to follow Britain’s lead by setting up agreements to send asylum seekers elsewhere, he argued.
Asked about the criticism of the illegal immigration bill by celebrities such as Gary Lineker, the prime minister insisted time would prove his policy correct.
“I don’t think anyone is arguing about it, so the question is how do we solve it, how do we solve it in a fair, caring and effective way. That’s our approach.” I think. “