Tony’s Abbott says UK needs to ‘get serious’ about illegal immigration migration
Tony Abbott has told a Conservative Party conference in Manchester that Britain must “get serious” about illegal immigration and learn from an Australian example.
Tony Abbott has given Britain some stern advice and warned it needs to “get serious” about stopping illegal migration even if it does mean “upsetting the French”.
The former prime minister told the Conservative Party’s 2025 conference in Manchester the tens of thousands of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel from France every year can be stopped if the government puts in urgent parameters to do so.
“What we can learn is that it is possible to stop a wave of illegal migration by boat if you have sufficient will,” Mr Abbott said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).
“Now France is a different jumping off point to Indonesia and you have to deal with France slightly differently to the way you would deal with Indonesia, but you start off with the clear understanding that any country which effectively facilitates illegal migration into yours is guilty of an unfriendly act”.
Latest figures show more than 30,000 illegal migrants arrived into the UK up until the end of September this year.
In the past week 845 migrants have arrived illegally on 13 boats into the UK.
Mr Abbott questioned how many illegal migrants were genuine refugees who have travelled across the English Channel because “all of them have passed through several safe countries”.
Sky News UK presenter Trevor Phillips moderated a panel with Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel and Mr Abbott.
The former prime minister was asked what he learned from his time in government when he implemented Operation Sovereign Borders which stopped illegal migration to Australia and what the UK needs to do to put a stop to illegal migration.
“Whether it’s bringing back the Rwanda possibility or possibly establishing processing centres in British dependent territories like Ascension Island or somewhere like that as opposed to putting people up in nice hotels in large towns in Britain,” he said were possible options.
“Whether it’s holding people in a mothership on the English Channel and then putting them in unsinkable life rafts with just enough fuel to get back to France in the middle of the night as we did.
“Whether it’s conducting very vigorous mafia busting operations in northern France, I mean Britain has to get serious about this and it’s going to deeply involve upsetting the French”.
The Starmer government has come under fire over its failure to stop the arrival of illegal migrants and Sir Keir last month said that he would do more to stop the influx and eventually end them being put up in taxpayer-funded hotels.
When Sir Keir came into office in July last year he immediately scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme and described it as “dead and buried”.
The UK and France governments last month started a pilot “one in, one out” policy of migrants which means each migrant the UK returns to France, a migrant with a legitimate asylum case in the UK can be exchanged.
Since it began, less than a dozen migrants have been exchanged under the deal.
Sir Keir also said the government would also review rights given under the European Convention of Human Rights which could result in asylum seekers being sent back to their home country.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said if his party wins the next UK election – which is expected to be in 2029 – he would deport anyone who arrives into the UK illegally on small boats claiming asylum.
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Originally published as Tony’s Abbott says UK needs to ‘get serious’ about illegal immigration migration
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