Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her priorities are to tackle illegal immigration; and how these differ from her immediate predecessor.

As the Home Secretary has set out, she will do whatever it takes to secure our borders; working to restore order to the asylum system, ensuring that the rules are properly respected and enforced, and working upstream to tackle those facilitating illegal migration.

The now embedded Border Security Command (BSC) is leading the national response to preventing small boats crossing the English Channel. The BSC work closely with the National Crime Agency, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, and overseas counterparts in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and Iraq. This collaborative approach has already led to widely publicised raids, arrests, and new bilateral agreements that will further strengthen enforcement and intelligence-sharing over the coming months.

To ensure we restore order to the asylum system, we are committed to meaningful reform of our current immigration system and processes. We will legislate to reform our approach to the application of Article 8 in the immigration system. Alongside this we will also pursue international reform, working closely with our partners in the Council of Europe. These reforms will restore the correct balance between individual rights and the wider public interest of controlling migration.