Campaigners claim Rishi Sunak's new migrant measures treat asylum seekers like criminals

Rishi Sunak’s new migrant measures have prompted a furious backlash from campaigners, who claim they treat asylum seekers like criminals.

The Prime Minister unveiled a five-point plan on Tuesday promising to curb Channel crossings and tackle the backlog of asylum claims.

It comes after the latest Home Office figures show there were more than 143,000 asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their claims in the year to September, while nearly 100,000 people had been waiting more than six months.

More than 44,000 people have crossed the Channel to the UK this year, Government figures show.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (right) speaks to Border Force officials at the Small Boats Operational Command Border Force facility in London. Picture: Alastair Grant - WPA Pool/Getty Images

The measures include a new permanent small boats command, ramping up immigration raids, ending the use of hotels for ayslum seekers, abolishing the backlog for claims by the end of next year and addressing the number of Albanian migrants crossing the channel.

Border Force officers will be stationed in Tirana airport in Albania for the first time in a bid to disrupt criminal gangs. Case workers will be required to have evidence of modern slavery when considering a claim. As a result, the vast majority of claims from Albanians could be declared “clearly unfounded” and see “thousands” returned home in coming months.

Mr Sunak also promised to restart flights to send migrants to Rwanda and introduce new legislation next year to make it “unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally, you should not be able to remain here”.

However, human rights organisations have accused the Government of treating asylum seekers like criminals. Therapy charity Freedom From Torture said the measures risked sending refugees back to “unimaginable horrors”.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said Mr Sunak’s Government has “wrecked” the asylum system.

He said: “Sunak speaks of fairness, yet his Government has wrecked the UK’s asylum system, doing significant harm to thousands of vulnerable people for no reason other than an attempt to avoid the responsibilities he expects other countries to take.”

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “Without safe routes they have no choice, but to take dangerous journeys. The Prime Minister failed to set out any concrete plans to expand these routes through a resettlement programme or an expansion in family reunion visas.

“Instead this Government wants to treat people who come to the UK in search of safety as illegal criminals. This is deeply disturbing, flies in the face of international law and the UK’s commitment as a signatory of the UN Convention on Refugees to give a fair hearing to people who come here in search of safety and protection.”

Earlier Mr Sunak insisted this was the “fair way to address this global challenge” and claimed his Government “will do what must be done.”

Mr Sunak told the Commons “unless we act now and decisively, this will only get worse”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer dismissed the proposals as “unworkable gimmicks”.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn told the Commons he had “grave concerns” about the proposed legislation, in respect of accommodation and about the “one-size-fits-all approach to asylum seekers emanating from Albania”.

He said: “Ultimately, the solutions don’t lie in either or any of those above proposals. They lie in ensuring that safe and legal routes exist.”

Immigration lawyer Usman Aslam, from Mukhtar and Co Solicitors in Glasgow, said: "He [Mr Sunak] has missed the point completely and is actually causing more problems as well as spending money where it's not needed."