UK Houses of Parliament Migration Asylum Border Security Grim Overshadowed Miserable UK Houses of Parliament Migration Asylum Border Security Grim Overshadowed Miserable

Our statement on the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill

Medaille Trust welcomes the moves to repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act 2024 and sections 22-28 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023.

These pieces of legislation represented a serious undermining of support for survivors of trafficking and modern slavery and, had they been enacted, would have created significant barriers for victims identifying themselves to the authorities and receiving vital support. Along with our partner charities we have consistently called for the repeal of these pieces of legislation and are happy that the government has listened.

We are, however, disappointed that the government has missed the opportunity to also repeal the modern slavery provisions in Section 29 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023. These provisions disqualify victims who have served a prison sentence from modern slavery support. This ignores the difficult truth that there are more victims of slavery and trafficking in our prisons than there are traffickers and exploiters.

At Medaille we have worked with many victims who have served prison sentences for crimes committed as part of their exploitation, including those trafficked into drug cultivation and those forced to shoplift or to illegally beg. Excluding these people from vital support excluding these people from vital support perpetuates the cycle of abuse and forces people back into the exploitation, not least when is no ability to appeal such a public order disqualification decision. We hope that the government will reconsider the decision not to repeal this provision along with the other provisions of the Illegal Migration Act.

More broadly, while the decision to repeal these damaging pieces of legislation is welcome, it only restores the situation to where we were in 2023. It is now ten years since the passing of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. In the intervening years what was once heralded as world leading legislation and protections is now lagging behind what is provided in other countries. We call for this legislation to be only a first step in a more ambitious programme to review and reset the UK’s modern slavery provisions to better protect survivors and to confront this grievous crime against humanity.