Leading immigration body urges Priti Patel to rethink "cruel" asylum plans

The Home Secretary told MPs that the UK would retain a fair approach to asylum claims, but stressed that she wanted to deter people from coming to the country illegally, and crack down on criminal gangs who smuggle people.

Under the new measures, the UK Government plans to use controversial 'third countries' to accommodate vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees while they await their claims being processed.

The plans also do not rule out using much-criticised offshore processing centres, which could see those trying to come to the UK flown thousands of miles away to remote detention centres while they wait for a decision on their claims.

Previously Ms Patel was said to be considering Ascension Island, 4000 miles away in the Pacific Ocean, as well as decommissioned ferries and oil rigs as potential locations for the offshore centres.

READ MORE: Downing Street will not rule out using Scottish Islands for asylum processing plan 

Gary Christie, Head of Policy at the Scottish Refugee Council said that the plans were "cruel" and was also concerned that Scottish perspectives may be "constricted" throughout the consultation on the plans due to the upcoming Holyrood elections.

He said: "We need to have a grown-up conversation about how the UK provides safety for people fleeing war and prosecution. We need to see a proper plan for a fairer and faster system to decide on people’s claims for protection, to radically reshape the support to ensure people live in safety and dignity while waiting to be recognised as refugees, and to lift the ban on the right to work.

“Recent polling in Scotland shows that 74% believe it’s important to make refugees feel welcome in Scotland and two thirds of people believe Scotland should welcome the same number or more refugees than it currently does. These proposals simply don’t resonate with people in Scotland. Indeed 59% of Scots currently believe it would be better for Scotland to run its own asylum and immigration system.

“We understand there will be a six-week consultation period to respond to the proposals. This falls during the Scottish Parliamentary election period. It is disappointing that the Scottish voices and perspectives we urgently need to hear on this issue will be constricted due to the UK Government’s timing of the consultation."

Mr Christie welcomed the Scottish Government's announcement of funding for "communities to widen initiatives to support all refugees to rebuild their lives from the moment they arrive in Scotland."

He added: "The Scottish Government and COSLA launched a strategy to provide a basic safety net of support and mitigate the abject destitution of those failed by the UK’s asylum and immigration system.

"The Home Secretary should learn from these, drastically redraw her cruel plans and embrace a new deal across the UK to support refugees to build new futures as they contribute their talents and skills to our communities.

“A truly fair and compassionate asylum system must be part of how Scotland and the UK collectively rebuilds after COVID-19. We can and we must do better than this.”

This afternoon Ms Patel told MPs: "We are now addressing the challenge of illegal migration head on. I’m introducing the most significant overhaul of our asylum system in decades, a new comprehensive, fair but firm long-term plan.

“Because while people are dying, we have a responsibility to act.”

For “too long” parts of the immigration system have been “open to abuse”, she said, adding that the system has become “overwhelmed” with a backlog of 109,000 asylum claims.

Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland Alistair Carmichael later said: "The Home Secretary’s ability to deliver a lengthy word jumble without getting close to an actual answer would almost be impressive if people’s futures were not at stake. She uses warm words to disguise a cruel and regressive plan.

"Based on recent form the Home Secretary appears to believe that we need more protections for public sculptures and fewer protections for the most vulnerable people in society.

"That goes against our country’s values and it goes against basic human decency.

"No humane government would propose shipping off refugees to third countries or creating Orwellian offshore processing facilities.

"The Home Office can’t even be trusted to treat people within our borders with dignity – Lord knows what they would get up to if these plans went ahead." 

Refugee campaigner and Labour peer Lord Dubs, who fled the Nazis as a child on the Kindertransport scheme, has criticised the Home Office’  proposed immigration reform, saying it could fuel criminality.

He tweeted: “The HO has closed the only two legal routes for refugee children stranded in Europe, including lone children and those with family here, to seek asylum in the UK. This is not ‘fair but firm’ – it keeps families apart and lacks compassion.

“Removing legal routes to safety doesn’t prevent criminality – it fuels it. The day the legal routes for refugee children seeking asylum here was closed was a field day for people traffickers and smugglers who exploit despair.” 

The Scottish Government's health minister Jeane Freeman wrote to the UK Government's immigration minister Kevin Foster over concerns that the new plans would worsen staff shortages in the social care sector.

READ MORE: Priti Patel reveals new asylum plan including offshore centres and overseas removal

She wrote: "Stakeholders across all key sectors in Scotland have made clear that they are struggling to cope with the end of freedom of movement, particularly given the ongoing impacts of the pandemic

“We feel that the UK Government’s new points-based system does not meet the needs of all parts of the UK."

Mr Foster said: “At a time when the economic impacts of Covid-19 mean more people across Scotland face an uncertain future about their employment, it is right employers and the Scottish Government focus on domestic job seekers first, providing the training needed to take up roles in social care and the rewarding packages these workers deserve, rather than turning to UK Immigration Policy for an alternative to this.”