SUELLA BRAVERMAN’S “barbaric” plan to ban refugees who cross the Channel from claiming asylum in Britain is a “blatant breach of international law,” refugee rights groups have warned. 

The Home Secretary was expected to announce the new powers in her first big speech to Tory Party conference today.

Under new legislation, a blanket ban would be imposed on anyone arriving to Britain via irregular routes, including by small boat across the Channel, from claiming asylum. 

The proposals go further than the Nationality and Borders Act, which reduced the ability of people to claim asylum in Britain, but has exceptions. 

Refugee rights groups have described the new Home Secretary’s plans as cruel, inhumane and illegal. 

Refugee Action CEO Tim Naor Hilton said: “This is a day of shame for the government as the mask finally slips on their refugee ‘protection’ system. 

“It is now clear that this Home Secretary cares only for keeping people out, not keeping them safe. 

“Banning those crossing the Channel from claiming asylum is a blatant breach of the international refugee laws that the UK proudly helped create in the first place.”
 
Care4Calais founder Clare Mosley said: “This proposal by the new Home Secretary is barbaric, untruthful and unnecessary.

“The government’s rhetoric around people crossing the Channel is simply false. 

“There is a mountain of evidence that the vast majority are genuine refugees; this criminalisation of them is blatant victim blaming of incredibly vulnerable people, simply for the purpose of grabbing headlines.”

Freedom from Torture director of policy and advocacy Steve Crawshaw accused the government of using refugees as a scapegoat for Tory failures as millions struggle to pay their bills. 

Ms Braverman was also expected to announce an overhaul of former PM Theresa May’s Modern Slavery Act in a bid to prevent asylum-seekers from claiming to be victims to avoid deportation. 

The Home Secretary has claimed that people abuse the system by claiming to be trafficked.

But a recent report by anti-trafficking groups, published on Tuesday, found that more than 90 per cent of victims who claim to be trafficked have later been confirmed through the government’s National Referral Mechanism. 

In the first half of 2022, the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority concluded that 97 per cent of cases were genuine trafficking victims.