New powers to crack down on small boat crossings in the Channel are expected to be announced by the UK government next week. The legislation, promised as part of efforts to tackle illegal migration, is understood to likely be launched by Rishi Sunak and the home secretary, Suella Braverman. The legislation, first reported in the Times, is expected to make asylum claims inadmissible from those who travel to the UK on small boats. It would involve a duty being placed on the home secretary to remove “as soon as reasonably practicable” anyone who arrives on a small boat to Rwanda or a “safe third country”. Arrivals will also be prevented from claiming asylum while in the UK, with plans also to ban them from returning once removed. The prime minister has made “stopping the boats” one of his five priorities, while Braverman has repeatedly promised to take a hard line on illegal migration and Channel crossings. Campaigners have criticised the government’s plans, with concerns about whether some of the policies are compatible with the European convention on human rights. The Rwanda scheme has been mired in legal challenges. So far no flights carrying people to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, have departed. The latest Home Office figures show 2,950 people have crossed the Channel on small boats already this year. Sunak has been under considerable pressure from his own backbenches to tackle illegal migration. Downing Street has said the legislation will come in due course.