This blog was originally published on 19 July 2024. It was updated on 22 July to include information about Labour’s plan for increased immigration raids and “returns and enforcement programme”.

The King’s Speech was made on 17 July 2024. It marks the State opening of Parliament following the General Election. 

Although the speech is read out by the King, it is written by the government. This time, it outlined the new Labour government’s plan for the next 5 years. It is important to remember that although the King’s Speech outlines government plans, it is not legally binding. Things that are mentioned in it might not happen, and things that were not mentioned may be introduced later.

This legal update provides a simple summary of the parts of the speech that mentioned asylum and immigration. In this blog, you will find the following information:

• The ‘good’ news, including the end of the Rwanda plan
• The disappointing news
• The glaring gaps in Labour’s plan
• Labour’s immigration enforcement plans for Summer 2024

The good news

Before we take a look at the disappointing elements of Labour’s plan for asylum and immigration, let us take a moment to appreciate the positives. 

The King’s Speech confirmed an end to the horrific ‘Migration and Economic Development Partnership’ (MEDP) with the Rwandan government that has been pushed for the last 2 years to enforce the failed Rwanda removals plan. The speech acknowledged the extreme (wasted) cost of the plan, and the fact that it has failed entirely to achieve its purpose of removing people seeking asylum from the UK. 

Although halting the Rwanda plan is the bare minimum, it is a massive relief. Fear of detention or removal to Rwanda has gripped our communities for two years, and has consumed much of the energy of the migration justice community. 

Another piece of good news is that the Labour government will prioritise clearing the asylum backlog to bring relief to those who have been stuck in the system for years, and who have been stuck living in hotels with limited ability to work. This is a welcome decision and will hopefully mean that many people who have been trapped in the asylum system can move forward with a grant of status. 

However, the ways in which this is likely to be achieved are much less positive… 

The disappointing news 

The new Labour government might be shifting the narrative from ‘stopping the boats’ to ‘smashing criminal gangs’, but the sentiment remains the same, and will cause the same types of harm as their predecessors’ plans. 

A new law called the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will be introduced, with the intention of creating a new ‘Border Security Command’ to patrol the border. The briefing note states that the government intends to: 

‘…[give] the new Border Security Command and wider law enforcement the tools and powers they need to crack down on criminal gangs by building on the success of robust powers to counter terrorism and including stronger powers for law enforcement officers to investigate involvement in organised immigration crime for example in stopping and searching at the border.’

This is not good news, and will play into the hands of real trafficking groups who operate not as big organisations but as smaller-scale projects. An example of how increased securitisation causes harm to vulnerable people seeking safety in the UK is the brutal prosecution of then-19 year old Ibrahima Bah, who was sentenced to prison for manslaughter for having his hand on the tiller of a small inflated dinghy crossing the Channel into the UK over choppy and dangerous waters when 4 people tragically drowned. 

Another shameful intention of the new Labour government is to ‘fast track’ returns for people coming to the UK to seek safety from ‘safe countries’. This is one of the ways in which the government will seek to clear the asylum backlog, and it is very worrying. As pointed out here by Dan Sohege, we know that any immigration ‘fast track’ initiative simply means that a full and proper procedure will not be followed, and corners will be cut. 

As we already know from the government’s list of alleged safe countries (in the Schedule of the ‘Illegal’ Migration Act which you can see here), what the UK government deems to be ‘safe’ at the state level, and what is actually safe for individuals are two separate things.  

The Refugee Convention and international asylum law was never about a country being ‘generally safe’ at a state level. It was about protecting individuals who have a well-founded fear of persecution in their country of origin based on who they are or who they are perceived to be. Many people may be generally safe in a country, it doesn’t mean that everyone is. 

Glaring gaps

Crucially, no solutions were proposed to some of the most glaring problems in the UK asylum and immigration system. Instead, only recycled policies (from Labour and Conservative governments) have been rebranded, as opposed to addressing core issues. 

Although the King’s Speech is not legally binding and simply provides a blueprint of what the new government will be focussed on, it is still shocking that the following issues were not mentioned:

• The lack of safe and legal routes for entry into the UK – the obvious cause of small boat entry and vulnerability to smuggling – was not addressed. No ideas or plans were put forward to create safe and legal routes. 
• There was no mention of the cruel Bibby Stockholm barge or the army barracks where many people seeking asylum are housed. 
• There was no mention of lifting the ban on working or increasing the right to work for people seeking asylum, despite the announcement of new legislation on race equality ‘to enshrine the full right to equal pay in law’.
• There was no mention of addressing the multiple harms of long routes to settlement, such as the 10 year route, which causes extreme hardship. 
• There was no mention of the harmful effects of No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) which forces millions of people in the UK to live in poverty.

Labour’s summer ‘returns and enforcement programme‘

Labour has already started to carry out its plans for a summer of increased hostility and enforcement towards migrant communities, with the intention of increased mass removals from the UK.

On Wednesday 17 July, over 70 people were in immense danger as they boarded a small inflatable vessel to make the journey across the Channel from France to the UK. For the first time ever, Border Force (from Dover) helped to return the survivors to France, as opposed to bringing them over to the UK.

The Independent reports that:

The UK took migrants saved in the Channel back to France for the first time in a sign of increased Anglo-French cooperation on small boats.

A Border Force Ranger catamaran and an RNLI lifeboat were dispatched from Dover after France called for help on Wednesday.

French ship PSP Cormoran picked up 59 people in the operation, and the British vessel rescued another 13.

One migrant died when their small boat deflated near Calais and they could not be resuscitated, but the other 71 people were taken back to France in both ships.

It was the first time a British vessel picked up migrants in French waters and returned them to France.

One person tragically died during the operation. At least 20 people have died making the crossing this year alone. Enforcement and the ‘smashing gangs’ approach to immigration and Channel crossings will not prevent further deaths. Only the development of safe and legal routes will.

Another worrying example of ‘more of the same’ of what we saw from the Conservative government is Labour’s “returns and enforcement programme” which is being initiated this summer.

Yvette Cooper, the new Home Secretary, told the media on Sunday that 1,000 civil servants who had been tasked with carrying out the now-abandoned Rwanda plan will now instead be focussing on increasing immigration enforcement (including raids) with a view to increasing returns to ‘safe’ countries.

One tangible way in which this plan will be enforced is through increased immigration raids of businesses and work places, including nail salons and car washes.

This is yet another horror of the Hostile Environment that our communities must brace themselves for, and band together to resist and display solidarity.

Learn more about immigrations raids, your rights, and how to stop one in our legal update blog here.

We will keep our community updated as we learn more.

At Right to Remain, we knew that the General Election would lead to a new government, but not necessarily a new beginning for those in the immigration and asylum system, and those supporting them. We still have plenty of work to do to dismantle the Hostile Environment and to ensure the right to remain, dignity and justice for all. 

Have a read of our Open Letter to you for more ideas on how to be proactive in demanding these things for all of our communities.