Refugee Council says Illegal Migration Act will not work and calls for pilot of legal route for 10,000 asylum seekers

The UK’s leading refugee charity has called for the introduction of a new refugee visa which it says would help stop dangerous Channel crossings in small boats facilitated by people smugglers.

The National Refugee Strategy, published on Wednesday by the Refugee Council, claims that new legislation just passed into law – the Illegal Migration Act – which bars people who arrive by “irregular means” from claiming asylum and aims to send many to Rwanda to have their claims processed there instead – will not work.