Jenrick Asserts He Could End Small Boat Crossings “In Weeks”

Conservative leadership contender Robert Jenrick has asserted that if he were prime minister, he would be capable of stopping small boat crossings “in weeks”. Speaking before Saturday’s result, which will determine whether Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch replaces Rishi Sunak as the leader of the Conservative Party, the MP for Newark informed BBC Radio Kent that he had resigned from government “because I didn’t want to be another minister who made promises about stopping the boats that I couldn’t keep”. So far in 2024, 561 small boats are known to have completed the journey across the Channel, transporting at least 29,867 migrants. The Home Office declared its intention to “stop at nothing” to dismantle people-smuggling gangs and bring them to justice. When questioned about the speed at which he could halt the boats, Jenrick stated: “If my approach from earlier this year was put into place I am confident we could stop the boats in weeks, and stop harm to people in Dover for example.” Jenrick mentioned that while serving as immigration minister, he spoke with residents in Dover who desired more action to address small boat crossings, adding: “These people were terrified and that’s why we need to leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.“We can’t have sites like Manston overflowing, we can’t have children’s services in the county struggling to help British children because of unaccompanied asylum seeker children arriving, and I want us to sort this now,” he said. Asked about his method for stopping the boats, Jenrick responded: “Anyone who arrived here would be deported either to their home country or a safe third country like Rwanda immediately.” The Rwanda scheme, which originated under the Conservatives, aimed to deter small boat crossings in the Channel by sending some individuals who arrived in the UK illegally to the East African nation. However, the plan was impeded by legal challenges, and no migrants were sent there before the general election. The scheme was subsequently abolished by the Labour government. Nevertheless, former Conservative MP and Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, told the BBC: “Only 41% of persons failing to get asylum status after coming to the UK have been removed since 2010. “In the case of the vast majority this has nothing to do with the ECHR but with the inability to get their likely country of origin to take them. Claiming that leaving the ECHR will solve this is false.” A Home Office spokesperson commented: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.” The spokesperson further added that “our new Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and enhance our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute” the gangs. Kemi Badenoch was approached by the BBC for an interview.