Migration bombshell as Labour plans to ship asylum seekers 1,000 miles away | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Labour is exploring controversial plans to ship failed asylum seekers greater than 1,000 miles away to detention centres within the western Balkans, based on experiences. The thought includes organising a community of “return hubs” abroad, the place migrants who’ve been refused asylum within the UK can be held after exhausting all authorized routes to remain.

Sources instructed The Times that the federal government is contemplating approaches to nations together with Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia as a part of a wider crackdown on unlawful migration and small boat crossings. A authorities supply mentioned: “This is clearly a shared challenge right across the world and we’ve always said this international problem needs an international solution. That’s why we’re looking at the widest possible set of options with a completely open mind.” The coverage would mark a shift from the previous Conservative authorities’s Rwanda scheme, which Labour scrapped final yr.

Unlike Rwanda, which Labour doesn’t view as secure, the proposed hubs would home asylum seekers in correct detention amenities, not inns.

The Times experiences that among the migrants despatched to those hubs might embrace these from nations the UK doesn’t presently have returns agreements with.

This might imply that individuals from Afghanistan, Iran or Somalia could possibly be relocated, though the UK can not deport them instantly.

Those from so-called secure nations like Pakistan, Vietnam and India is also held briefly whereas the UK arranges their elimination.

One minister reportedly identified that two empty migrant centres in Albania could possibly be used, after Italy’s plans to make use of them had been blocked in court docket.

Government figures consider the prevailing amenities and infrastructure might assist pace up negotiations.

According to The Times, Labour hopes the specter of being relocated to an offshore centre will discourage migrants from making harmful crossings and cut back stress on the UK’s asylum lodging system, the place greater than 38,000 individuals are presently dwelling in inns.

In current years, greater than 85,000 asylum seekers have reached the tip of the attraction course of, however solely round 20,000 have been eliminated. Last yr, removals elevated to 9,151 – a 36% rise on 2023.

However, charities have strongly criticised the plan. Enver Solomon from the Refugee Council mentioned: “Headline-grabbing gimmicks and knee-jerk proposals that are about sounding tough will not work.”

Amnesty International additionally condemned the thought, calling it a “new low” in how Europe treats migrants.

The proposals are nonetheless within the early phases and are anticipated to face fierce authorized opposition in the event that they go forward.

The Daily Express has approached the Labour Party for remark.