Meeting of the Parliament 26 June 2025
Before us today is a legislative consent motion for a bill that epitomises a weak response from a weak Government. Is there a policy area that Keir Starmer has not reversed on? Right before our eyes, as we hold the debate, we can see what is happening with his welfare reform proposals. Labour’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is a master-class in vacuous legislation—it is long on rhetoric and short on resolve. If the members on these Conservative benches were in the House of Commons, we would oppose the bill, just as our colleagues at Westminster are rightly doing.
Instead of building on the robust deterrent measures that the previous Conservative Government put in place—most notably the Rwanda policy that was championed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak—Labour has taken a wrecking ball to them. The result is that illegal immigration has surged and the number of small boat crossings in the past 11 months alone has hit record highs. That is not coincidence—that is consequence.
Let us be clear that the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill repeals key sections of the Illegal Migration Act 2023—the very provisions that created a pathway to deter illegal crossings and dismantle the vile business model of people-smuggling gangs. The Rwanda partnership was about not just removing illegal entrants but sending the clear and unambiguous message that, if people come here illegally, they will not be allowed to stay. Labour has turned its back on that principle.