Rishi Sunak on children, boats and Illegal Migration Bill

Rishi Sunak has said children would be housed in “appropriate” holding accommodation and not separated from their asylum-seeking families.

The prime minister said the policy underpinning the Illegal Migration Bill was not to "detain children" but so there would be no incentive to bring a child on a small boat crossing of the Channel.

He told Tory MP Caroline Nokes it would be wrong to create a "pull factor” for children that saw them make a "perilous journey".

28 March 2023