June 13, 2024 Dear Colleague, The upcoming July 4 elections in the United Kingdom, which appear poised to seat a Labour government, offer an opportunity for novel policy approaches to address growing asylum claims and irregular migration. In a new commentary, Migration Policy Institute (MPI) analysts Meghan Benton and Susan Fratzke argue for a pivot, regardless of who wins the election, from the much-bruited but still-to-be-implemented UK-Rwanda deal. They also note the potential for new cooperation with the European Union, which recently approved a new Pact on Migration and Asylum. While both the Labour and Conservative parties have made clear they will seek to broker a post-Brexit asylum agreement that would facilitate returns of irregular migrants to France, the election as well as the finalization of the EU pact open a window for conversations around broader cooperation, the commentary notes. Amid consideration by EU countries and others of models that engage migrants earlier in their journeys to assess their eligibility for alternative work, family unification, and protection pathways, the UK government could play a constructive role, Benton and Fratzke write. For example, it could refashion the UK-Rwanda deal into a returns hub for the voluntary return of rejected asylum seekers. Or it could partner with other governments to create processing centers for legal pathways along migration routes to Europe, emulating the Safe Mobility Offices now operating in the Americas. “A new UK government, whoever leads it next, has an opportunity ... to advance a more ambitious agenda that could help create greater unity among the British public while also showing goodwill to international partners both in the European bloc and beyond,” Benton and Fratzke write. I encourage you to read and share this timely and thoughtful commentary, which you can find here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/options-irregular-migration-united-kingdom. Best regards,  Michelle Mittelstadt
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Migration Policy Institute | 
