Sunak's small boats plan
The government's set out plans to try to stop people crossing the Channel in small boats. What's being proposed, and will it work?
Last year, more than 45,000 people arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats, and some experts predict that number could more than double in 2023.
The Prime Minister’s staked his political future on stopping these journeys. He’s even made it one of the five key pledges he wants us to all judge him against at the next election.
Now his government's proposing major changes to the way people who cross the Channel are dealt with. New legislation seeks to ban people coming into the UK illegally from claiming asylum or re-entering in the future, and puts a duty on the home secretary to deport them "as soon as reasonably practicable". Labour says the bill isn't a solution, and that it lets people smugglers "off the hook".
For 5 Questions on, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ and Legal correspondent, Dominic Casciani, discusses what's being proposed, and considers whether it will work.
(Image: Reuters/Pascal Rossignol)
