The UK has clear obligations under international and domestic law to accept and fairly consider the claims of asylum seekers. The most important of these comes from the 1951 Refugee Convention, which the UK helped to shape and has signed along with its 1967 Protocol. This agreement requires that people fleeing persecution, because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group, must not be sent back to a country where their lives or freedom would be in danger. It also makes clear that asylum seekers cannot be punished for how they arrive, since escaping persecution often means travelling without proper documents or through irregular routes.

Alongside this, the UK is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, which underpins protections like the right to life and the ban on torture or degrading treatment. These rights reinforce the principle that no one should be returned to a place where they would face serious harm. Taken together, these commitments mean that while the UK controls its borders, it also has a legal and moral duty to open them to those in genuine need, to hear their cases fairly, and to offer refuge where it is justified. In practice, this balance reflects both the rule of law and the longstanding British tradition of protecting the vulnerable.