Video Icon
IMMIGRATION

Rishi Sunak sets out five-point plan to halt Channel migrant crisis

More staff, less red tape to clear asylum backlog

A group of migrants being brought ashore at Dungeness, Kent, on Friday
A group of migrants being brought ashore at Dungeness, Kent, on Friday
GARETH FULLER/PA
Matt DathanOliver Wright
The Times

Rishi Sunak staked his political future on resolving the small boats crisis in the Channel as he pledged to clear a backlog of asylum claims by the end of next year.

The prime minister announced that a new deal to return Albanian migrants to Tirana within weeks of arriving had finally been agreed. Almost 13,000 Albanians who have crossed the Channel this year will be removed from Britain within months on weekly deportation flights, the prime minister said.

Sunak revealed a five-step approach to resolve the Channel migrant crisis. The plan lacked detail but includes a return to “hostile environment” policies to deter illegal immigration, measures to clear the asylum backlog, new large-scale accommodation sites to move asylum seekers out of hotels and an