Mr. Sunak is trying to revise a new version of the Dublin Agreement. Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire
Rishi Sunak is determined to negotiate a return deal with the EU to deal with the small boat crisis despite Brussels officials rejecting the UK.
Downing Street said the prime minister was «remaining open» to advancing negotiations on a UK-EU return deal. as a way to keep migrants from crossing the English Channel.
Number 10's statement follows private meeting minutes leaked confirming The Telegraph's disclosure four months ago that Brussels is resisting a new migrant return deal with Mr Sunak despite improved relations following a new Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.
< p>EU officials told The Telegraph that the European Commission is «not considering» an asylum return deal with the UK «right now».
>This came when Sir Jake Berry, former chairman of the Conservative Party, said that for the government to have «any chance» of winning the next general election and effectively bringing the boat to a halt, it would have to go «much further» in its efforts to illegal immigration and demonstrate to the British people that this is not a 'soft touch'.
UK-EU relations over asylum seekers have come under the spotlight after the deaths of six Afghan migrants in the English Channel on Saturday after their boat sank.
The UK is seeking to revise a new version of the Dublin Agreement before Brexit, under which migrants from the English Channel will be returned to European countries. in which they had previously applied for asylum. Labor also said they would seek a new return agreement with the EU if they win the next election.
Any such agreement would require the UK to share with Europe the burden of resettling the hundreds of thousands of migrants who enter the bloc illegally, such as by boat to Italy and Greece, as stowaways on ferries or in trucks across the western Balkans.
In May, the Prime Minister called on fellow leaders at the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, to work more closely on illegal migration, which included a proposal for a new return agreement.
Mr Sunak also signed a £480 million deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to place more officers on French beaches to stop migrants from leaving and boost cooperation between France and the UK. But Mr Macron has made it clear that any return agreement must be negotiated with the EU, not bilaterally.
The notes are written as Bjorn Seibert, head of cabinet for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen , told Sir Tim Barrow, UK National Security Adviser and former EU Ambassador, that the Commission is not ready for a new readmission agreement.
A European Commission spokesman said Siebert did not remember turning down the offer, although they have no record of the meeting.
EU sources said it was unlikely the bloc would be able to negotiate with the UK in the near future because that negotiations among Member States to reform its internal readmission scheme have stalled.
Proposals to replace the Dublin Convention would require each EU member state to accept at least 30,000 migrants a year, or pay £17,000 for each migrant they did not accept. Hungary and Poland blocked this plan. It was designed to help share the burden that falls on Greece and Italy.
Despite the £480m deal with France, Macron has made it clear that return agreements must be negotiated with the EU. Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool
A UK Government spokesperson said: «We remain open to working with the EU to advance negotiations on a return agreement between the UK and the EU as part of our international efforts to combat illegal migration and crack down on these exploitative gangs.»
“We talk regularly with our European counterparts on a range of issues related to migration and asylum.
“We have agreed with the members of the Calais Group from the Nordic countries to work towards the establishment of an EU-UK Migration Cooperation Agreement in a joint statement at the group’s meeting on December 8, 2022.”
Sir Jake also urged the government to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as part of an updated plan to stop ships.
He said: “I think people want the government to be tough. . They want these people to leave their hotels in Blackpool where they usually go on vacation at this time of year, they want them to be on barges, they want them to be in tents in army camps.
«They don't want Britain to be soft. I think this is what the government is starting to do, and if they have a chance to not only win the election but stop it, it's more important to stop it and not see six people die tragically in the English Channel than any government. must win the election, and if he has any chance of doing any of that, he needs to go much further.
“That is why I am calling for a British Bill of Rights to exempt our country from the ECtHR, which seems like a major impediment or impediment to what the government would like to do in terms of protecting our sovereign immigration policy here. in the United Kingdom.»
Rishi Sunak is under renewed pressure to withdraw from the ECtHR
On Tuesday evening, Rishi Sunak faced renewed pressure to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) after the EU rejected a new deal on the return of migrants from the UK.
Conservative MPs urged the prime minister to «return full control» of Britain's legal sovereignty after it was confirmed that the European Commission was «not open» to negotiating a new deal on the return of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel from the continent. /p>
A disclosure in a leaked report of a meeting between senior UK officials and the Commission confirmed The Daily Telegraph's report earlier this year that the EC was «not considering» an asylum return deal with the UK right now.
The move added to Tory supporters' frustration with attempts to «stop the boats» after a week in which six Afghan migrants died in the English Channel when their boat sank, and the number of boats arriving in the UK in small boats has surpassed 100,000 since the first arrived in 2018.
Sir Jake Berry, former chairman of the Conservative Party, called for a British Bill of Rights to free the UK from the ECtHR as he warned the government needed to go «much further» if it had «any chance» of winning the next election and effectively stopping the boats.
Danny Krueger, founding member of the New Conservatives, a group dominated by Red Wall MPs, said: “Now we have tried legal efforts, technical fixes and international diplomacy in an attempt to stop boats under European human rights law. .
“If the EU does not consider a return agreement, we will have no choice but to regain full control of our legitimate sovereignty.”
Jonathan Gullis, a former minister, said : “The time has come to review our relationship with the ECtHR. The EU continues to sulk because the UK has left the EU. Instead of working together, he seeks to punish us.
“This is clearly not a relationship of equals, and now it is time for the prime minister and the interior minister to muster up the courage and put our membership in the ECtHR. on the discussion table.”
Last week, The Telegraph reported that at least eight cabinet ministers were prepared to leave the ECtHR if the Supreme Court blocked deportation flights to Rwanda.
Yesterday (Tue ) Downing Street said the PM remains open to further negotiations with the EU on a UK-EU return deal to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel.
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