I hope by the time you read this the Rwanda Bill will be well on its way to becoming legislation. We must stop the illegal economic migrants who are so incentivised to come to our shores.

The tragic news of the death of five more people attempting to cross the channel from France at the weekend is a reminder of the dangers and why we need this legislation. Vulnerable people are in the hands of criminal gangs who put their lives at risk day after day in the channel. They are coming to our shores, having paid thousands to do so, they arrive illegally and then clog up the asylum processing system with false claims of human slavery. Then the expensive lawyers turn up to fight their case and delay deportation. This must stop.

Those in danger and seeking asylum have nothing to fear from this Bill. We continue to give refuge to those who need it from Ukraine, from Hong Kong, from Afghanistan and from Syria, and that’s just in the last few years. The UK has a proud history of giving refuge and that will not change.

It is only those economic migrants the new Bill wishes to stop. There are safe and legal routes to come to the UK to work, to study and seek refuge.

When people voted to leave the EU, they did so in the knowledge that the free movement system imposed by the EU would end. The government introduced the Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill in the House of Commons, and it was a commitment to building a fairer single, global immigration system which considers people based on their skills, rather than nationality.

The Rwanda Bill is about tackling the other end of migration: those who come to our shores by illegal and often ill-gotten means. The sooner we can get this Bill delivered, the quicker the people smugglers will be out of business and the Channel stops becoming a watery grave.

The polls show this law has the support of most of the public. It is something that comes up a lot on the doorsteps in Stourbridge when many say to me, ‘stop the boats’.

It is a grim irony that these illegal economic migrants – often young single men – who pay organised criminals to make dangerous sea crossings are coming from safe countries, not warzones. The danger they face is boarding a small boat to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

The fact is this Bill shows that only this government has a plan to do something about this complex problem. The actions of the traffickers are nothing more than sheer exploitation of people. It must stop.