Illegal Migration Act 2023 - analysis of the Act's structure, purpose and key working parts

This Act received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. It is an extraordinary piece of legislation that has rightly been widely condemned as an affront to the UK's constitutional system, to respect for the rule of law and to international law. The parliamentary process by which this Act was made was itself profoundly deficient. 

Understanding the enormity of what Government has done in securing this Act of Parliament requires careful consideration of the Act - its singular and governing purpose, totalising construction and key working parts, which combine to exclude access to justice and compel the Home Secretary to act in profoundly harmful and otherwise illegitimate ways regardless of any moral, legal or practical constraints that do or ought apply.

This analysis seeks to clearly identify the Act's purpose, structure and key working parts to aid wider understanding.