Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said ministers realised that they ‘can’t any longer rely on sending people back to the place where they first claimed asylum’ after Brexit
A top Tory has admitted there were flaws in Boris Johnson’s plans to handle asylum seekers post Brexit in a leaked recording.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said ministers realised that they “can’t any longer rely on sending people back to the place where they first claimed asylum” after leaving the EU.
It comes despite Mr Johnson’s endless boasts that Brexit would allow the Government to take back control of Britain’s borders. But in a recording obtained by Sky News, Mr Philp appeared to suggest that the Tory Government was surprised to learn that leaving the EU could actually hinder their efforts.
The UK’s departure from the bloc meant it no longer participated in the Dublin agreement, which governs EU-wide asylum claims. One rule – known as Dublin 3 – allowed the UK to return some asylum seekers to EU member states without considering their claims, as they should make their claim in first safe place they arrive.
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Mr Philp, who was an immigration minister in the last Government, publicly argued in 2020 that Dublin rules made asylum removals harder. But in a Zoom call with the shadow cabinet on April 28, he said that the Tories realised just before the UK severed ties with the EU that they could no longer rely on sending people back to the first country they had sought to claim asylum.
According to Sky, he said: “When we did check it out, just before we exited the EU transitional arrangements on December the 31st, 2020, we did run some checks and found that about half the people crossing the channel had claimed asylum previously elsewhere in Europe, in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, somewhere like that, and therefore could have been returned.
“But now we’re out of Dublin [agreement] we can’t do that, and that’s why we need to have somewhere like Rwanda that we can send these people to as a deterrent.”
The Tories failed to deport any one to Rwanda under their botched scheme after it got tied up in legal wrangles. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper later revealed the plan cost the taxpayer £700million.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch has previously admitted the Tories led us out of the EU without a plan for growth. Now her Shadow Home Secretary has admitted they didn’t have a plan for asylum either.
“The Tories haven’t listened and they’ve learned nothing since they were kicked out of office. Only this Labour Government can be trusted to secure our borders and fix the Tories’ botched Brexit deal. “
Responding to Mr Philp’s comments, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party delivered on the democratic will of this country, and left the European Union. The last Government did have a plan and no one – including Chris – has ever suggested otherwise.
“We created new deals with France to intercept migrants, signed returns agreements with many countries across Europe, including a landmark agreement with Albania that led to small boat crossings falling by a third in 2023, and developed the Rwanda deterrent – a deterrent that Labour scrapped, leading to 2025 so far being the worst year ever for illegal channel crossings.
“However, Kemi Badenoch and Chris Philp have been clear that the Conservatives must do a lot more to tackle illegal migration. It is why, under new leadership, we are developing g new policies that will put an end to this problem – including disapplying the Human Rights Act from immigration matters, establishing a removals deterrent and deporting all foreign criminals.”
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