Rishi Sunak to call to end illegal migration whilst in Europe

The Prime Minister will be attending a Council of Europe meeting in Reykjavik, and will say that the international system for policing human trafficking is “not working”.

It comes as Mr Sunak’s Conservative administration attempts to pass into law measures designed to stop asylum seekers crossing the English Channel in small boats.

The Illegal Migration Bill aims to send asylum seekers who arrive in Britain via unauthorised routes back home or to a third country such as Rwanda.

Alongside this, Mr Sunak will also hold talks with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to try and have reforms made to how Rule 39 works, The Metro reports.

Mr Sunak will hold talks with the ECHR on reforms to Rule 39 (Image: PA)

This is the order that prevented the inaugural deportation flight taking asylum seekers to Rwanda last year.

What has Rishi Sunak said about illegal migration?

Speaking ahead of his trip, the Prime Minister said: “Every single point on each route used by people traffickers to smuggle people across our continent represents another community struggling to deal with the human cost of this barbaric enterprise.

“It is very clear that our current international system is not working, and our communities and the world’s most vulnerable people are paying the price.

“We need to do more to cooperate across borders and across jurisdictions to end illegal migration and stop the boats.

“I am clear that as an active European nation with a proud history helping those in need, the UK will be at the heart of this.”

Ahead of Mr Sunak’s diplomatic efforts in Iceland on the topic of human trafficking, a Downing Street official said the challenge of unlawful migration was not only a UK issue.

They argued that the “scourge of illegal migration” was placing “unbearable pressures on countries throughout Europe”, citing that cases had risen by 50% in the past year.