Political View: Asylum system should be efficient and effective
I have written previously in the PT about how great it is that we now have 72 Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons, writes Nick Sandford, Communications Officer, Peterborough Liberal Democrats.
And they are making a big difference: holding the Labour government to account and challenging them to be more ambitious in tackling some of the big issues facing people in Britain today.
A great example of this earlier this month was Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson, Lisa Smart, proposing in Parliament a measure to scrap the ban on asylum seekers getting a job and working, if they had waited for more than three months for a decision on their claim. Many on the right of politics talk about asylum seekers "scrounging off the state" instead of working and contributing to society: the problem is many want to work but our Government currently won't let them.
Regretfully Lisa's very sensible proposal was rejected by an alliance of Labour, Conservative and Reform MPs: all voting against the national interest so that they could appear "tough on immigration".
The UK has a long and proud history of welcoming newcomers, whether people seeking to build their lives here or refugees fleeing war and persecution. This is particularly true of Peterborough, which has benefited from successive waves of new residents over many decades, both from other parts of the UK and abroad. And our local economy has benefited massively, helping to make Peterborough one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Personally, I was privileged to know Mahebub Ladha, who came to Peterborough in the 1970s as a refugee from Uganda and made a big contribution to our city, eventually becoming our director of racial equality. Sadly he passed away a few years ago.
Most people agree we need some controls on immigration, where people are coming to the UK for economic reasons, to make a better life for them and their families. One good way of reducing immigration would be to support people who are in poverty in other parts of the World and that is why it is so sad to see the current government slashing Britain's overseas aid budgets.
But refugees seeking asylum is a different issue. The UK is bound by international treaties to assist people who come to our country fleeing war and persecution. The last Conservative government left an asylum system in chaos. They closed down safe and legal routes for refugees, putting more power in the hands of traffickers. They allowed the asylum backlog to balloon out of control, trapping asylum seekers in limbo for months or even years and ending up having to put them up in hotels in places like Peterborough. Then they came up with a scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was ruled by UK courts to be illegal under human rights legislation.
We had hopes that the new Labour government would be different but it seems little progress has been made. They had an opportunity to put in place a more effective and compassionate asylum system but they have so far failed to give people the change that they voted for. Liberal Democrats have argued for asylum decisions to be made swiftly and fairly by setting up a dedicated unit in the Home Office. They should put in place safe and legal routes for refugees, for example by establishing new humanitarian travel permits, so as to take power out of the hands of criminal people trafficking gangs, who are responsible for persuading refugees to cross the Channel in small boats.
It is so sad to see Labour apparently paying lip service to the harsh and uncaring policies of the Tories and Reform. In the face of such divisive and destructive politics, Liberal Democrats will continue to argue for an asylum system that is efficient and effective but also one that is legal, liberal and fair, treating all refugees and migrants with the dignity and respect that they deserve.