Rishi Sunak is travelling to Austria tonight to hold talks with the country’s leader about illegal migration.
The prime minister will meet Chancellor Karl Nehammer in Vienna on Tuesday, following an announcement that the UK government will give an extra £25m to the National Crime Agency to help tackle people smuggling gangs.
However, the main thrust of the trip is to promote the use of third country deportation schemes – such as the government’s Rwanda plan.
The leaders are expected to say that such schemes are “part of the solution for best protecting Europe from irregular migratory pressures and preventing people from making illegal, dangerous journeys”.
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It comes as the total number of people who have crossed the Channel in small boats this year nears 10,000.
The government has now passed its legislation to deport asylum seekers to the African nation, but flights are not expected to start taking off until early July – and more legal challenges could also be launched.
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Labour has branded the scheme an “expensive gimmick” and promised to scrap it if the party wins the next general election.
However, Home Secretary James Cleverly said the government was still “determined to operationalise Rwanda as part of the measures to protect our borders”.
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Speaking ahead of the visit, the prime minister pointed to an open letter from 15 EU countries, including Austria, published last week that called for “new solutions to address irregular migration to Europe” – including looking into the possibility of introducing third country schemes.
Mr Sunak said: “We are leading the charge with partners across the continent to meet the challenges caused by intolerable levels of illegal migration.
“Our disruption of the cruel trade of criminal gangs, together with our Rwanda scheme, are part of a deterrent to stop illegal migration once and for all.
“It is the British public who should make decisions about who crosses our borders.”
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Last year, the UK and Austria signed a “migration and security agreement” to work more closely on the issue, with the country keen to create its own third country scheme to address rising crossings in the Mediterranean.
However, unlike the UK’s Rwanda scheme, asylum seekers would be allowed to return to Austria if their applications were successful.
Mr Sunak and Mr Nehammer are expected to sign a joint statement as part of the trip, agreeing to even “closer co-operation to counter this seismic and pan-European challenge”.
