Lord David Cameron has denied implying that the asylum returns arrangement with France has failed because of Brexit.
He did say, however, that the Dublin Regulation is dead to any nation that is not a member of the European Union.
A new mechanism is being implemented to address the difficulties caused by migration and member states’ unwillingness to transfer asylum seekers to other EU members.
Lord Cameron remarked that the present circumstances and the attitudes of others make implementing a cross-channel returns agreement impossible.
Cameron, speaking on ITV’s Peston program, said that the UK should be able to send migrants back to France. Some saw the comments as going against the government’s position, which holds that a deal with an EU nation is impossible since the group demands that Britain accept a quota of migrants.
During an appearance on ITV’s Peston program, Lord Cameron addressed questions about his attitude toward Rwanda’s policy while he was prime minister. He said things were different back then since they could immediately send individuals back to France. He said the most reasonable course of action would be for it to happen again, and he would be very grateful if it could. An efficient way to impede the business of human smugglers is to repatriate persons to France as soon as they land on a Kentish beach. Regrettably, it is not accessible at the moment. It’s just not feasible, he remarked.
Emmanuel Macron, president of France, has made it clear that a bilateral agreement about a return will not be reached with the United Kingdom. Instead, he is adamant that negotiations occur within the European Union.
In reaction to Lord Cameron’s comments, a Downing Street spokesman said the UK and the EU had not yet reached a return deal.
The official said that reaching such an agreement was quite unlikely. Member states must accept quotas of migrants in order for the new pan-European migration deal—which prioritizes returning migrants—to come into effect. According to the spokesperson, they have made it plain that they would never accept return agreements in return for quotas.
Even without a UK departure from the ECHR, the Foreign Secretary was confident in Mr. Sunak’s deportation strategy. If the treaty made it more difficult to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, the prime minister had already indicated that he may think about withdrawing from it.
His comments came only two days after the Rwanda Bill, introduced by Rishi Sunak, was passed into law. This bill aims to remove any more roadblocks to the government’s deportation strategy. For months, this measure had been met with fierce resistance from peers and members of parliament alike.
