I know how concerned so many of my constituents are about immigration and I will therefore continue to push as hard as I can to get Government policy in the right place when it comes to both legal and illegal migration.

In the summer, I published my own policy paper outlining some clear steps that the Government could take in order to make significant cuts to net legal migration. I am pleased that, only a few weeks ago the majority of these proposals were adopted by the Government. I am confident that this new approach will lead to major cuts to net legal immigration into this country. The measures introduced by the Government include a major increase in the salary threshold for people being able to move to our country. This should help prevent the wages of British workers being undercut. There have also been significant moves by the Government to crack down on the number of dependents that those moving to this country can bring. These are very welcome moves that I wish had been introduced sooner.

Of course, the media spotlight has this week been focused on illegal migration. The numbers involved are a lot lower than for legal migration but many people’s views are, arguably, even stronger on this issue. I think a lot of this is linked to the unfairness of illegal migration. Many are angered by the apparent inability of the Government to prevent people from illegally entering our country and inexplicably being able to stay here.

There has been some progress this year. The number of small boat crossings has been cut by a third despite the numbers going up in other European countries. I was delighted to hear that the Novotel is one of the first hotels used for accommodating illegal migrants to be returned to its proper use. However, the numbers are still unacceptably high and the Government needs to be uncompromising in introducing robust deterrents to tackle the issue.

We can only tackle this issue with a deterrent and we won’t be able to do so without one. If the Rwanda scheme was able to work at scale, I am certain it would make a significant contribution to tackling the small boat crossings. Sadly, to date it has been prevented from getting off the ground by foreign courts and outdated international laws and conventions. Many other countries are also struggling with these issues and are becoming increasingly frustrated by their own inability to control their own borders. The time for a frank and honest conversation at an international level is overdue and I am confident will eventually come.

In essence though I believe in the sovereignty of our elected Parliament. I do not think it should be stymied and superseded by international law. To a large extent this was what the Brexit debate was about, ensuring that our own elected representatives are able to shape the destiny of our country. Sadly, it has become clear to me that even after leaving the European Union we are still not in a position to fully do. This is due to the constraints placed on us by a range of international conventions and laws such as the European Convention of Human Rights.

One of the major reasons people voted to leave the European Union was so that we could control our own borders and reduce immigration. People are right to be furious at our apparent impotence when it comes to tackling the small boats crisis and implementing a workable scheme to deport those who have broken our immigration law and have no right to be here.

As someone who believes that our democratically elected Parliament should rule supreme I am open to all options that allow this to finally be fully realised.

Tom Hunt is Conservative MP for Ipswich