Rishi Sunak has said getting a grip on illegal migration is the “absolute priority” for his government as he kicks off his G20 summit with a new joint declaration with France to try to tackle record numbers of small boat crossings.
The prime minister told journalists on the flight over to Bali that illegal migration and the economy were his two top issues as he welcomed a new deal with France.
“I do think that the absolute priority that British people have right now, as do I, is to grip illegal migration,” Mr Sunak told the travelling press pack en route to Indonesia.
“I made that commitment that I would grip it in the summer and I can tell you all I have spent more time working on that than anything else other than the autumn statement over the past couple of weeks.”
Under the deal, UK annual payments to France to help police the border are set to rise to €72m (£63m) in 2022/23, from €62.7m (£54.8m) for 2021/22.
Image: Rishi Sunak en route to the G20 in Bali. Pic: AP
PM under pressure
The deal is a much-needed positive for a prime minister under big pressure over small boat crossings, with the number of people making the journey across the Channel hitting a record high of more than 40,000 this year.
The much-vaunted plan to send some migrants to Rwanda is also still not up and running, while the Home Office is under fire for allowing overcrowding at the Manston processing centre in Kent, where 4,000 migrants were held in a facility designed for 1,500 people.
The agreement includes:
• 40% increase in the number of officers patrolling beaches in northern France to increase early detection and disruption of illegal small boat crossings
• Investment in port security infrastructure in France to prevent illegal entry via lorries. This includes stepping up surveillance, more CCTV, new surveillance technology and detection dog teams
• More technology to better equip officers to prevent crossings, including drones and night vision capabilities
• Agreement to step up cooperation with European partners, with plans for a meeting of the “Calais Group” neighbouring countries as soon as possible to drive progress
• A new taskforce, focused on reversing the recent rise in Albanian nationals and organised crime groups exploiting illegal migration routes into Western Europe and the UK
• Joint UK-France analysis teams to build on existing channels of information-sharing and step up operational cooperation as part of the French-command HQ
• Investment in reception and removal centres in France for migrants whose journeys to the UK are prevented, to deter crossing attempts and provide them with safe options instead
Only 4% of people who arrived in small boats last year have had a decision made about their application for asylum.
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“I’ve been honest that there’s not a single thing we can do to fix it, and we can’t fix it overnight,” Mr Sunak said.
“But there’s a range of things I’m working on, including the French deal, where I’m confident we can bring the numbers down over time and that’s what I am going to deliver.”
Mr Sunak is under huge pressure to resolve this thorny problem, with Tory MPs saying small boat crossing is one of the biggest issues raised on the doorstep by voters.
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, who signed the deal in France on Monday morning, said: “There are several elements to the deal, and I think it represents a positive next step to our collaboration with the French.
“It’s not going to fix it overnight. It’s not a silver bullet. But I think for the first time we have some real wins for both the French and the UK.”
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Under the new agreement there will be a 40% increase in 200 officers patrolling the beaches and, for the first time, British officers will be embedded with their French counterparts in an attempt to stop people making the crossing.
The UK government will also invest money in migrant centres and an operations centre in France in an attempt to deter migrants.
The UK has spent a total of €200m (£174.8m) every year dealing with all matters related to the British border.
Win in Downing Street
Although the deal is not huge, it is nevertheless significant and perhaps represents a period of greater cooperation between London and Paris.
Mr Sunak raised the issue of illegal migration with his French counterpart at their first official meeting on the edges of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt last week.
The early collaboration in Mr Sunak’s premiership between London and Paris will be seen as a win in Downing Street after Liz Truss ruffled feathers by saying the “jury’s out” on whether President Emmanuel Macron was a friend or foe.
The United Nations Security Council has passed a US resolution which endorses Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza.
Russia, which had circulated a rival resolution, abstained along with China on the 13-0 vote.
The resolution endorses the US president’s 20-point ceasefire plan, which calls for a yet-to-be-established Board of Peace as a transitional authority that Mr Trump would head.
US ambassador Mike Waltz said the resolution was “historic and constructive”, but it was “just the beginning”.
“Today’s resolution represents another significant step towards a stable Gazathat will be able to prosper and an environment that will allow Israel to live in security,” he added.
Image: Pic: Reuters
The proposal gives no timeline or guarantee for an independent Palestinian state, only saying “the conditions may finally be in place” after advances in the reconstruction of Gaza and reforms of the Palestinian Authority – now governing parts of the West Bank.
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It also says that the US “will establish a dialogue between Israeland the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence”.
The language on statehood was strengthened after Arab nations and Palestinians pressured the US over nearly two weeks of negotiations, but it has also angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He has vowed to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state, and on Sunday pledged to demilitarise Gaza “the easy way or the hard way”.
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6:59
From October: How will peace plan unfold?
Hamas: International force is ‘in favour of’ Israel
In a statement rejecting the resolutions’ passing, a Hamas spokesperson said that it “falls far short of the political and humanitarian demands and rights of our Palestinian people”.
“The effects and repercussions of this war continue to this day, despite the declared end of the war according to President Trump’s plan,” they added.
“The resolution imposes an international trusteeship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people, their forces, and factions reject.”
The spokesperson then said that “assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favour of the occupation”.
Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death.
It comes after the 78-year-old was found guilty of ordering lethal force in a crackdown on a student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule.
The former leader, who is now exiled in India, was tried in absentia by the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) after the United Nations said up to 1,400 people may have been killed in last year’s violence.
Bangladesh‘s health adviser in the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.
Following a months-long trial, Hasina got a life sentence under charges for crimes against humanity and the death sentence for the killing of several people during the uprising.
In a statement released after the verdict, Hasina said the ruling was “biased and politically motivated” and “neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protesters”.
“I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where evidence can be weighed and tested fairly,” she added.
“I wholly deny the accusations that have been made against me in the ICT. I mourn all of the deaths that occurred in July and August of last year, on both sides of the political divide. But neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protesters.”
The students initially started protesting over the way government jobs were being allocated, but clashes with police and pro-government activists quickly escalated into violence.
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1:33
August 2024: Protesters celebrate Sheikh Hasina’s resignation
The court revealed conversations of Hasina directing security officers to drop bombs from helicopters on the protesters.
She also permitted the use of lethal weapons, including shotguns at close range for maximum harm, the court was told.
Hasina, who previously called the tribunal a “kangaroo court”, fled to India in August 2024 at the height of the uprising.
She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence.
Hasina is also the aunt of former UK government minister, Tulip Saddiq, who resigned from her Treasury job at the start of this year.
Ms Siddiq had faced calls to step down over links to her aunt and was also said to be facing a corruption trial in Bangladesh.
She told Sky News in August the accusations were “nothing more than a farce” and said she had never been contacted by the Bangladeshi authorities.
The ICT, Bangladesh’s domestic war crimes court located in the capital, delivered its four-hour verdict on Monday amid tight security.
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1:09
What was behind the protests?
The packed courtroom cheered and clapped when the sentence was read out.
The tribunal also sentenced former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan – also exiled in India – to death.
A third suspect, a former police chief, was sentenced to five years in prison as he became a state witness against Hasina and pleaded guilty.
The ruling is the most dramatic legal action against a former Bangladeshi leader since independence in 1971 and comes ahead of parliamentary elections expected to be held in February.
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0:42
July 2024: Bangladesh protest has ‘become a war’
Foreign ministry officials in Bangladesh have called on India to hand over the former prime minister, adding it was obligated to do so under an existing treaty between the two nations.
India’s foreign ministry said it had noted the verdict concerning Hasina and “remained committed” to the people of Bangladesh.
“We will always engage constructively with all stakeholders to that end,” the ministry added in a statement.
During the verdict, protesters had gathered outside the former home-turned-museum of Hasina’s late father demanding the building be demolished.
Image: Protesters gather outside the former home of Sheikh Hasina’s late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Pic: AP
Police used batons and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
Paramilitary border guards and police have been deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country, while the interim government warned any attempt to create disorder will be “strictly” dealt with.
Hasina’s Awami League party called for a nationwide shutdown in protest at the verdict.
The mood in the country had been described as tense ahead of Monday’s ruling.
Image: The protests escalated during the summer of 2024. Pic: AP
Image: Pic: AP
At least 30 crude bomb explosions and 26 vehicles were set on fire across Bangladesh during the past few days.
Local media said two people were killed in the arson attacks, according to the Associated Press.
Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister, has been sentenced to death after being convicted of crimes against humanity.
It follows a months-long trial in the country that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
The former leader, exiled in India, was tried in absentia after the United Nations said up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violence.
Bangladesh’s health adviser under the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.
The students initially started protesting over the way government jobs were being allocated, but clashes with police and pro-government activists quickly escalated into violence.
The court revealed conversations of Hasina directing security officers to drop bombs from helicopters on the protesters.
She also permitted the use of lethal weapons, including shotguns at close range for maximum harm, the court was told.
Hasina, who previously called the tribunal a “kangaroo court”, fled to India in August 2024 at the height of the uprising, ending 15 years of rule.
In a statement released after the verdict, Hasina said the ruling was “biased and politically motivated” and “neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protesters”.
“I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where evidence can be weighed and tested fairly,” she added.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:33
August 2024: Protesters celebrate Sheikh Hasina’s resignation
The 78-year-old is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence.
The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s domestic war crimes court located in the capital Dhaka, delivered its four-hour verdict amid tight security.
Hasina received a life sentence under charges for crimes against humanity and the death sentence for the killing of several people during the uprising.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:09
What was behind the protests?
The packed courtroom cheered and clapped when the sentence was read out.
The tribunal also sentenced former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan – also exiled in India – to death.
A third suspect, a former police chief, was sentenced to five years in prison as he became a state witness against Hasina and pleaded guilty.
The ruling is the most dramatic legal action against a former Bangladeshi leader since independence in 1971 and comes ahead of parliamentary elections expected to be held in February.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:42
July 2024: Bangladesh protest has ‘become a war’
Foreign ministry officials in Bangladesh have called on India to hand over the former prime minister, adding it was obligated to do so under an existing treaty between the two nations. India has not yet made any response.
Paramilitary border guards and police have been deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country, while the interim government warned any attempt to create disorder will be “strictly” dealt with.
It comes after Hasina’s Awami League party called for a nationwide shutdown as part of a protest against the verdict.
The mood in the country had been described as tense ahead of Monday’s ruling.
Image: The protests escalated during the summer of 2024. Pic: AP
Image: Pic: AP
At least 30 crude bomb explosions and 26 vehicles were set on fire across Bangladesh during the past few days.
Local media said two people were killed in the arson attacks, according to the Associated Press.
Hasina is also the aunt of former UK government minister, Tulip Saddiq, who resigned from her Treasury job at the start of this year.