‘Progress!’ Rishi Sunak seeks migrant deal with Emmanuel Macron to curb Channel crossings
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Rishi Sunak wants a new cross-Channel deal with France to tackle migrant boats crossing the strait, which will include targets on how many boats are stopped from reaching the UK, The Times has revealed. According to Government sources, Ministers and officials are set to examine a draft deal that is close to being signed with France in order to make it “more ambitious.”
They are particularly keen to ensure that there is a solid agreement that there will be a set number of French officers patrolling the beaches at any one time.
Home Office staff are also due to be set targets to process 80 percent of asylum claims within six months.
It has revealed that the average case took 480 days to resolve.
Bonuses could also be awarded to staff if they met specific targets, for example, if a caseworker completes four asylum claims a week, which would be more than double the current rate.
There have also been plans drawn up by Home Office officials to restrict the definition of who can qualify for asylum in order to reduce numbers of successful applicants.
This was one part of Mr Sunak’s ten-point plan to tackle the migrant crisis during his summer leadership campaign.
In the past year, 75 percent of completed asylum claims have resulted in the granting of the right to stay in the UK.
However, under Mr Sunak’s plan that number could fall as more evidence could be required to prove that the individual is fleeing persecution or conflict.
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It comes after she admitted to breaching security rules by sending sensitive Government details to a backbench MP and his wife using her personal email address.
Meanwhile, Mr Sunak is believed to want a deal that includes the British Border Force and police working with their French counterparts with “mutually agreed targets” to increase interception rates.
Although French officials have stopped 28,000 migrants from reaching Britain this year, that number has fallen from 50 percent last year to only 42 percent.