In 2023, Rishi Sunak became the prime minister of the UK following the brief and disastrous tenure of his predecessor, Liz Truss.
With his party's support cratering, he picked up on an issue that had previously been largely confined to far-right groups and tabloid newspapers: the small boats carrying asylum seekers across the English Channel from France.
He made it one of the five promises of his new government and it soon became one of the leading issues in the country, with enthusiastic backing from the opposition Labour Party and the far-right Reform UK.
Since then, the parties have competed to implement and push for ever more stringent restraint on the rights those who "illegally" crossed the channel, leading NGOs and former asylum seekers to fear the UK is no longer a safe haven for those fleeing conflict and persecution.
This week, the new Labour government brought into force legislation allowing officials to seize asylum seekers’ mobile phones and sim cards without the need for an arrest, nominally for the purpose of tracking down the people smugglers who facilitated their travel.
