Theresa May

Theresa May has been the Home Secretary from May 2010 to July 2016. The Home Office is responsible for the safety of the country and more specifically, inter alia, for “securing the UK border and controlling immigration; considering applications to enter and stay in the UK; issuing passports and visas,” it also lists “controlling migration” as one of its priorities. (See UK, “Home Office”). She successively became Prime Minister on July 2016 until July 2019, and she thus led the government and took responsibility for all government policies and positions (See UK, “Governmental structure”). The UK and more particularly Theresa May and Philip Hammond played an important role in bringing Mare Nostrum to an end, as both described search and rescue operations as an “unintended pull factor (See UK, “Executive Summary”). It is said that the decision not to replace Mare Nostrum was taken by Europe’s interior ministers, which included Theresa May, in Luxembourg on 9 October 2014. According to an article in The Guardian by Alan Travis, when the Italians were hesitant to finish Mare Nostrum, “May was back at the EU justice and home affairs council the next month in November demanding, along with others, that it be ended immediately”.

A month earlier (11 September 2014), May was one of the five Interior Ministers who signed the letter sent to Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, asking for the replacement of Mare Nostrum with by Triton. Following this, May’s only public communication came in the form of a written statement to the Commons, which said that the agreement to a withdrawal of Mare Nostrum was welcomed by all EU member states, including Italy and complied with their obligations under EU migration and asylum laws (See UK, “End of Mare Nostrum”). Theresa May participated on 25 and 26 June 2014 to an informal G6 meeting of Interior Ministers from the 6 largest European Union countries, plus representatives from the United States of America, the European Commission and FRONTEX where it is likely that the end of Mare Nostrum was discussed (See UK, “End of Mare Nostrum”).

According to multiple sources, what the British press coined as the “let them drown” approach is believed to be a product of Home-Secretary Theresa May (See UK, “End of Mare Nostrum”). When Theresa May became Prime Minister and formed a new government, she was committed to drive down immigration numbers at any cost, as “the people have spoken” and the tough stance against immigration was one of the main features of the “leave” campaign. It can therefore be said that May steered the UK towards an even harder line on migration which is likely to have had an impact on the UK’s stance on migration policies (See UK, “Operation Sophia”).
May also disagreed with Mogherini when it came to deciding the fate of intercepted migrants. According to Theresa May, they should be forcibly returned.

The UK Conservative party has led the Government since 2010 and is arguably the most anti-immigration of major UK parties. In 2013 this Conservative-led coalition government set-up a policy called “Securing borders and reducing immigration”, which ended up becoming the “Immigration Bill”. The legislation was presented by then Home Secretary Theresa May who openly advocated creating a “hostile environment” for irregular exile.  Under Theresa May’s government, the UK government also ramped up the practice of border externalizations (See UK, “Domestic Political Context”).She tried to push her EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill through Parliament three times, but failed.

Under Theresa May’s mandate, the UK has provided humanitarian assistance through the Department for International Development (DFID) and direct migration programming through the cross government Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). Through the latter, the UK has also supported the training of the Libyan Coastguard and Navy through Operation Sophia.

During Theresa May’s government, there has been a recent increase in support of migration-related programs addressed by UK aid. The total budget for the “migration-central route” program (April 2017 – March 2020) was 7.69 million pounds. This budget also included the contribution of UK Border Force cutters and associated crew in order to support Operation Sophia. In 2015, the UK  created a Migration Department within DFID, and capacity was been added in the Foreign Office, Home Office and Cabinet Office in order to address the challenges of irregular migration. Moreover, a cross-government Migration Steering Group was established, co-chaired by the National Security Adviser and the Home Office. (See UK, “Libyan Coastguard Support”)