UN official predicts Home Office asylum plan will fail

The UN expert on refugees in the UK has warned Parliament that controversial plans to change asylum laws to combat English Channel crossings will fail.

Rossella Pagliuchi-Lor said the Nationality and Borders Bill also breaks international law.

The Home Office says the plan will deter illegal migration and tackle people-smuggling.

But Ms Pagliuchi-Lor predicted it would lead to greater backlogs and more pressure on local public services.

So far this year, more than 16,000 people have crossed the Straits of Dover in small boats.

That's twice the number that came in 2020 - but it remains far lower than the number of unauthorised migrants and asylum seekers seen in other parts of Europe.

"The bill revolves around the notion that refugees are required to seek asylum in the first safe country they find," she said.

"Now to be clear, this principle is not found in the Refugee Convention," said the official, referring to the international law that governs how the UK should treat people who are seeking protection from abuse.

Under the plan, any asylum seeker who arrives in the UK without prior authorisation - such as an Afghan using a dinghy to cross the English Channel - would face up to four years in jail. Such migrants would also be blocked from settling permanently in the UK.

Ms Pagliuchi-Lor said these measures would cause very significant suffering to people in need of - but also have unintended consequences.

"This is really going to create a massive problem not only at the personal level for these individuals, but also for the community, local councils and the NHS," she told MPs.

"This system would actually exacerbate the current backlog and increase the costs.

"This would delay the integration of those found to be refugees... and hamper the return of those who are not found to be in need of protection.

"It will have a number of unintended negative consequences that will impact on the very aims that the bill purports to pursue."

At present, some 71,000 people who have sought asylum in the UK are awaiting a decision - a number that has been growing for a decade.

Those applicants are not allowed to work and are housed as public expense until they are given permission to integrate or are removed from the country.

But removals have fallen since Brexit after the UK chose to leave an EU-wide arrangement to more quickly send people back to other European nations.

Recently published figures reveal that this year officials have identified more than 4,500 people in the UK whose cases should be assessed by other countries - but none of them had been sent back.