Government amends 'stop the boats' legislation for pregnant women and child migrants

Changes made after draft law suffered 20 defeats in House of Lords

People thought to be migrants are led ashore in Dungeness, Kent, after being intercepted by a lifeboat crew. PA

The British government has been forced to ditch parts of its flagship legislation against illegal immigration to prevent major defeats to the bill.

In the latest setback for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” crossing the English Channel, ministers offered a series of concessions on Monday evening to the Illegal Migration Bill.

Under the amendments announced by the Home Office, the limit of 72 hours on the detention of pregnant women will be maintained – though this can be extended to seven days on ministerial authorisation.

Unaccompanied children taken into detention will be granted immigration bail after eight days rather than the 28 currently proposed.

Another alternation will prevent migrants who have entered the UK illegally from being removed retrospectively after the Bill receives royal assent.

As a result, about 10,000 people who have arrived on UK shores since March 7 – when the Bill was introduced – will not be at risk of deportation, according to estimates by The Mail.

However, people who have arrived via illegal means on or after March 7 would still be banned from re-entry, settlement and citizenship under the new law.

The U-turns are aimed at easing safeguarding concerns for migrants and come after the draft legislation suffered 20 defeats in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the UK Parliament.

The Home Office said the safeguards were ushered in after scrutiny in the Lords.

The department, led by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, said measures would be introduced to ensure the list of definitions of “serious and reversible harm” cannot be amended by secondary legislation.

Ms Braverman said the Bill was a “crucial part” of the Conservative government’s efforts to stop the flow of people illegally crossing the Channel in small boats.

She said the amendments would “help this crucial legislation pass through Parliament swiftly, whilst continuing to send a clear message that the exploitation of children and vulnerable people, used by criminals and ferried across the Channel, cannot continue”.

MPs will vote on the heavily amended Bill on Tuesday.

The government hopes it will be passed by the end of next week when the Commons breaks for summer.

The shake-up comes after a surge in migrant crossings at the weekend, prompted by mild weather.

A total of 686 migrants arrived on Friday, the highest daily number this year, followed by 384 on Saturday and 269 on Sunday.

The total of 1,339 people in 25 dinghies over the three days came only a month after the Prime Minister claimed his plan to stop Channel crossings was “starting to work”.

The flow of boats continued on Monday when 338 people were plucked by rescuers from six boats.

Asked about the upsurge in illegal migrant arrivals, Downing Street on Monday said: “We always knew that as we move into the summer months crossings will escalate.”

The Prime Minister's official spokesman added: “We are continuing to stop significant numbers of crossings.

“I still believe that you’re more likely to be stopped and turned back than to make the crossing and that’s because of the work with our French counterparts and the extra support that we’ve put in.

“But clearly, the numbers making the journeys are still too large and that’s why we need the other elements of our ‘stop the boats’ package. And that includes both the Rwanda Migration Partnership and [the Illegal Migration] Bill.”

The migration crisis drove the UK’s asylum-related spending past £3 billion last year, according to London-based think tank Policy Exchange.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick was criticised by MPs after it was reported that he had ordered murals at a migrant detention centre to be painted over.

Mr Jenrick on Tuesday argued the paintings were not “age appropriate” for the majority of the young people staying there.

During a debate in the House of Commons, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper asked the minister: “Can he explain: is it true that he gave orders to the asylum reception centre to paint over children’s cartoons?

“If so, why? Because nobody believes that Mickey Mouse cartoons either encourage or deter boats to arrive, and they simply think that this is the minister actually not showing some common decency to vulnerable children.”

Mr Jenrick said the government provides “very high quality care at all of the centres in which we support unaccompanied children” and said the decision to erase the murals was taken on the grounds of the patrons' age.

“We didn’t think that the set-up in that particular unit was age appropriate because the majority of those individuals who were unaccompanied passing through it last year were teenagers,” he said.