UK will stand up to enemies behind hybrid warfare and smash small boat gangs, vows Shapps

The Defence Secretary said Russia has used the tactic “as a means of war” to destabilise Western democracies.

He insisted the UK must be willing to lead an “international conversation” on reforming global asylum rules to give Europe the best chance of destroying the people smugglers’ business models.

Mr Shapps said: “We are working tirelessly to battle malign influences around the world, and that includes hostile states who are trying to use migration as a weapon. “A recent Joint Expeditionary

Force meeting had nations saying Russia was using illegal migration as a means of war, so it’s a widely acknowledged problem.

“The Prime Minister knows the threats we face from enemies who work in underhand means to try to destabilise the democracy and freedoms we cherish, and will do what it takes to protect them.

Prime Minister said, if that requires us to update our laws and lead an international conversation to amend the post-war frameworks around asylum, we must do that.”

The Defence Secretary described the malign mass migration tactic as “hybrid warfare” and insisted: “Enough is enough.”

Mr Shapps said: “A recent Joint Expeditionary Force meeting had nations saying Russia was using illegal migration as a means of war. It’s a widely acknowledged problem.

“The Prime Minister knows the threats we face from enemies who work in underhand means to try to destabilise the democracy and freedoms we cherish.

“We will do what it takes to protect them. We will stand strong against hybrid warfare.”

It comes as Rishi Sunak said on Saturday that Western governments must “tackle” illegal migration or the numbers arriving in Europe will “only grow”.

Mr Sunak said hostile states will “see how unable we are to deal with this” and drive “people to our shores”.

Finland has sealed its border with Russia after accusing Moscow of encouraging a flow of African and Middle Eastern migrants to cross as part of a “hybrid operation”.

Italy has also accused the Wagner Group – Vladimir Putin’s bloodthirsty mercenaries – of being behind the surge in migrants crossing to Italy from Libya.

Rome believes it is part of Moscow’s response to support for Ukraine.

And Poland said Belarus lured migrants to Minsk with the promise of European visas, leading to a crisis on the border between the two nations.

Belarus has been one of Russia’s few supporters since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

Wagner forces have been operating in several African countries including Libya, Mali, and Central African Republic.

The scale of the illegal migration crisis in Europe has prompted renewed calls for the Refugee Convention to be updated.

Critics say it was not originally drafted to cope with an era of mass-migration.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said during a visit to Rome that he would push for reforms to the global asylum system.

He said: “If we do not tackle this problem, the numbers will only grow. It will overwhelm our countries and our capacity to help those who actually need our help the most.

“If that requires us to update our laws and lead an international conversation to amend the post-war frameworks around asylum, then we must do that.”

The number of small boats crossing the Channel has fallen this year, from 45,755 to 29,328.

But the number of migrants who have arrived in Europe has skyrocketed this year. At least 249,272 asylum seekers have arrived in EU countries by boat this year.

The true figure will be even higher as smugglers are still moving people into and across the continent using lorries.

The Prime Minister warned of the failure to act: “Our enemies will see how unable we are to deal with this and so they will increasingly use migration as a weapon: deliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilise our societies.”

Mr Sunak is also facing a January battle to get the first deportation flights to Rwanda off the ground.

Government lawyers are already holding talks with Tory rebels concerned the Prime Minister’s Safety of Rwanda does not go far enough, the Daily Express understands.

Some Conservative MPs are concerned migrants still have too many opportunities to appeal decisions to deport them to Kigali.

They are worried that Clause 4 of the Safety of Rwanda Bill effectively signposts migrants to their best chances of avoiding deportation to Kigali.

Critics hope this will be tightened to drastically reduce the number of people who would be able to successfully appeal deportation to Rwanda.

This newspaper has also learned MPs who voted for the Bill during last week’s Second Reading could vote against it when it returns to Parliament if significant changes are not made.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told Tory rebels: “I’m confident that the Prime Minister has looked at this very carefully and has got the best possible measures, but if there are ways of improving it further, just as with any piece of legislation, we’ll work with backbench Members of Parliament, including Conservatives.

“If we can make it even better, of course, we’ll do that.”

Mr Dowden said the Prime Minister “is a pretty rigorous person, he’s looked through this very carefully, turned it upside down, shaken it around, he’s pretty sure this is the best thing we can get”.

Conservative MP Mark Francois said the rebel MPs abstained because “we took the Prime Minister at his word”. He added: “The Prime Minister said he was prepared to entertain tightening up the Bill. There were lots of discussions behind the scenes.

“We took him at his word, so rather than trying to vote the Bill down at Second Reading, we abstained to allow a breathing space in order to come up with some amendments.”

The Home Office is also said to be struggling to find an airliner to carry migrants to Rwanda. Firms have so far declined to sign up over fears of damage to their reputations from taking part in the plan.

Ministers have since appointed an agent to source a commercial aircraft supplier willing to ferry migrants to the African nation if and when the scheme becomes operational.

A failure to do so raises the prospect of the Ministry of Defence and the RAF stepping in.

Home Official officials insist that if and when the Rwanda legislation becomes law, there will be flights available.

A Government spokesman said: “The Government is committed to doing whatever it takes to stop the boats and get flights to Rwanda off the ground as soon as possible.

“Rwanda is ready to welcome large numbers of people and we have robust plans in place for future flights following discussions with a range of companies.”

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