The new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Minister of State Angela Eagle want to be seen to be acting fast on election promises regarding immigration. Though not all Home Office announcements so far are welcome news to us. Read on…
Good news
According to charity Safe Passage a key element of the previous government’s Illegal Migration bill is being abandoned: ‘The Government has made a regulation amending the Illegal Migration Act, brought in last year, that essentially lifts the ban on applying for asylum for those who can only get here on dangerous and irregular journeys, such as in boats or lorries.
Dr Wanda Wyporska, chief executive at Safe Passage International said “Finally, basic humanity and common sense prevails. It is encouraging to see the new Government lift the refugee ban, brought in by the previous Government, which left people trapped in limbo indefinitely.
“People fleeing war and persecution must be able to apply for protection in the UK – however they arrive here – and get a fair hearing on their right to live safely. This is a significant step forward, that must swiftly be followed by opening safe routes for refugees to prevent men, women and children from having to take dangerous journeys to reach safety and family.”
And more good news – campaign group Right to Remain have reported that the Bibby Stockholm prison barge will not have its contract renewed, so will close in January 2025. Not nearly soon enough for campaigners, who will keep up the pressure to see it empty well before that.
Possibly good news
Labour MP Olivia Blake sent in a written question to the Secretary of State at the Home Department, Yvette Cooper on July 24th asking this:
‘What assessment she has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) cost efficiency of alternative to detention pilot projects operated by her Department; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing further pilots for (i) women, (ii) LBTGQI+ people and (iii) other people likely to be vulnerable in detention?’
The response came two days later from Angela Eagle, Minister of State at the Department.
‘The Department will keep under review the feasibility of alternative to detention pilots, taking account of effectiveness and cost efficiency, as part of our plans to transform the asylum and returns system.’
We trust this means she has read the UNHCR project reports and recommendations, dismissed so swiftly by the last government minister.
Disturbing news
Open Democracy has publicly uncovered evidence of the outrageous waste of money spent on housing asylum seekers. Serco is one of the main beneficiaries of the disgraceful absence of monitoring of companies with Home Office contracts. Serco has a huge contract – £69,000 over 9 years – to run Derwentside IRC, but has yet to deliver on refurbishment work left undone by previous contractor Mitie. This includes the promised care and separation unit and induction suites and the cultural kitchen.
This situation is criticised roundly in the newly published annual report of the IRC’s Independent Monitoring Board. The missing facilities are not a luxury in a detention centre housing women- they are a necessity, as the report explains. It also highlights yet again the wastefulness in the immigration system.The IRC is seldom more than half full, yet its capacity of 80 beds is presumably being used as a baseline for the contract costs.
The last thing we want is for Derwentside to be full! So we are demanding that with such a low level of occupancy shows there must be better ways to deal with the kind of ‘crimes’ that bring women through the gates, within the community. The numbers are so small that this could surely be achieved by building on the pilot projects conducted by the previous government.We are writing all MPs in our region to take this up with the Secretary of State and the Justice Secretary.
Disappointing news
Unfortunately Labour seems to be maintaining the previous regime’s hardline approach on refusing leave of stay to ‘failed’ asylum seekers. This week the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper seems determined to speed up the policy of returning migrants home, apparently making use of planes chartered already for Rwanda. According to the BBC, a plane chartered to fly deportees to Rwanda will now fly to Vietnam, filled with Vietnamese ‘offenders’. This follows a returns agreement with the Vietnamese Government.
There is no further information about how this has come about, but if the accounts from organisations supporting refugees are right, many Vietnamese caught up in detention have been here for years – so the move is hardly applicable to our current migrant numbers. It’s an indication of Labour’s intention to remove as many asylum applicants as possible, as fast as possible.
We have no way of knowing how many asylum seekers might be on those flights before their applications have truly run their course. Which raises the same human rights questions as the Conservatives were facing with a similar policy before they lost power. We need new creative and fair ways to tackle the backlog – not old, failed unjust ones.
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