Global Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Persons Sanctions Regulations 2025

Lord Cameron of Lochiel Excerpts

Wednesday 17th September 2025 Grand Committee

Can the Committee be told when the guidance required under the 2018 parent Act will be published? I note that, on 23 July, 25 individuals and entities were designated under the new regime when, by definition, the guidance was not available. The FCDO has said to the European Union Committee of your Lordships’ House that annual reviews of sanctions are important because they mean reviewing the evidence that is relied on. I am sure that the Minister will be told to say that the Home Office and the FCDO will keep these under review, but can the Government commit to regular monitoring and the publication of the results? After all, it is integral to the success of sanctions as a deterrent for us and the possible offenders to know what is going on and how successful the Government are being.

[Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for moving this statutory instrument. It is part of an incredibly important discourse surrounding an extremely pressing issue, and any chance to debate how we might rectify the current immigration situation is welcome. Nations cannot survive without sovereign control of their borders; for that sovereignty, a nation needs the means to exact border control.

I do not want to ventilate arguments that have already been made, most recently during the debates on the borders Bill in your Lordships’ House; they will be well known, as will the position of the Official Opposition. It is our view that the Government do not currently possess the correct policy for border control. As a result, the British public are now facing waves of illegal immigration on their shores.

Like much of the Government’s legislation on immigration, in particular illegal migration, we have grave doubts that this instrument will be effective in enabling the Government to sanction traffickers. However, although those facilitating illegal migration into our country should rightly be punished—for that reason, we will not oppose this Motion—I ask the Minister: does he really believe that this measure will assist in halting the growing crisis?

I want to make some very specific points; there will be some overlap with the pertinent points already made by the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. First, those who are trafficking migrants on to our shores often do not reside in the United Kingdom. They operate in a deeply underground and illicit trade. There is little to no chance of them seeking to join a legitimate company in this country, let alone set up or become a director of one—something that this instrument prevents.

Secondly, financial sanctions will have little effect on those operating illegally. They do not act through legitimate routes and, therefore, neither does a large proportion of their money. Does the Minister have an estimate on the extent to which these sanctions will deter people from migrating illegally? There is even a risk that measures such as these will not stop attempts to cross the channel and borders but will instead force the criminal gangs further underground into less safe routes; I am not saying that this will necessarily be the case, but it would be reassuring to hear from the Minister that the Government have at least accounted for that possibility.

I welcome the expansion of the criteria under which a person may be considered involved with illegal migration. We have, for too long, been too lax on those who aid and abet these crimes. An expansion of the scope of those considered accomplices is needed.

In conclusion, it is our belief that this issue needs far more thorough measures to be resolved. Attempting to punish those facilitating this crime may be an appropriate measure, but it is certainly not sufficient in and of itself.

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I thank noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. I will try to answer as many of their questions as I can; if I cannot answer any of them, I will be very happy to write, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, suggested. That said, I have an answer to her question—I have been briefed.

It is a moral and national imperative that we tackle this issue. Under these regulations, this Government have already sanctioned 25 individuals and entities at the heart of the people-smuggling networks driving irregular migration to the UK. The Government have acted to address the concerns of the British people to protect migrants from the dangers of organised crime and smash the gangs.

I shall now try to respond to some of the specific answers asked by noble Lords. The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, asked me how convinced we are that this measure will have a meaningful impact. As I said, this is the first regime of its kind in the world. To some extent, it is a model that we hope others will follow, but, of course, we do not know how effective it will be. We do not believe and are not suggesting that this is a silver bullet or a fix-it for the whole problem of human trafficking and irregular migration, but we are suggesting that it is part of the toolbox that we can use—and which we have already used, by sanctioning 25 people the day after the legislation was introduced.

The noble Lord asked about the impact that we expect this regime to have on preventing irregular migration and people smuggling. As I said, this is the first dedicated regime of its kind in the world, so we are breaking new ground by creating the ability to impose sanctions in this way. As I set out, we hope to be able to disrupt the activity of the criminal gangs and deter others from seeking to be involved in this evil trade. As noble Lords would expect, we will monitor the effect of our sanctions wherever possible, seeking to build on successes and learn from where they have been less effective. As I said, we do not assume that they will entirely fix the problem on their own.

We will also seek to use sanctions in conjunction with other measures to tackle irregular migration; we will work with international partners to do so. I stress the point about working with international partners. As I said, it is a key part of our objective that we lead the world, but we hope that others will follow. We will monitor the impact of the designation wherever possible, learning lessons from other sanction regimes.

All noble Lords, I think, asked why the Government think that this measure will be effective, given that many of the people who might be sanctioned will not be in the UK. That is, obviously, a concern. We believe that the measures we are proposing to use to target those involved should be taken in the round. They will encompass the travel ban, the asset freeze and the director disqualification. As well as the direct consequences of the sanctions on the designated person—such as preventing them travelling to the UK and, crucially, interacting with the UK’s economy—the designation also de-anonymises the individual; as I said, the names of all of the people who are sanctioned are published. Although we do not speculate on future designations, once the designation is made, it is public. Designation can both cause disruption to people smugglers’ operations and have a deterrent effect in terms of the willingness of others to work with them.