Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the equity of processing applicants for asylum on (a) UK Crown Dependencies and (b) British Overseas Territories.

The UK has a long and proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations. Tens of thousands of people have rebuilt their lives in the UK and we will continue to provide safe and legal routes in the future.

We have seen unprecedented numbers of small boat arrivals in the UK during 2020 – and we are determined to make this route unviable. We have been looking at what other countries do in response to similar situations – but that doesn’t mean we will do those things; and no decisions have been taken by Ministers.