Labour Policy Watch: Immigration and Asylum

Home About Contact
Immigration and Asylum
Chapters Salaries and Taxation Pensions Benefits Health and Care Education Housing Employment Trades Unions and Labour Laws Trade and Industry Transport Energy Environment Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Rural Life Crime Legal System Immigration and Asylum Local Government Devolution and Regional Government Parliament and Democracy Media Freedom of Information and Privacy Northern Ireland European Union Foreign Policy Defence and Disarmament Conclusions	Preamble		Chapters Salaries and Taxation Pensions Benefits Health and Care Education Housing Employment Trades Unions and Labour Laws Trade and Industry Transport Energy Environment Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Rural Life Crime Legal System Immigration and Asylum Local Government Devolution and Regional Government Parliament and Democracy Media Freedom of Information and Privacy Northern Ireland European Union Foreign Policy Defence and Disarmament Conclusions
	Under the Tories, it became increasingly difficult for those fleeing persecution in other countries to obtain their right of refuge here e.g. if they came from a white list of safe countries or could be deported to a safe third country. Those who claimed asylum after arriving in the UK or who used their right to appeal against rejection were barred from getting benefits. Asylum seekers also lost many civil liberties, e.g. they could be detained without being accused of any crime or have premises searched without a warrant. Employers, benefit offices, local authority housing departments, medical staff and even headteachers were expected to check people's immigration status.
	Labour policy was:
	1	To place no restrictions on asylum seekers reaching the UK
	2	To place no restrictions on their rights once here including appeal rights
	3	To respect their civil liberties, e.g. opposing fingerprinting
	4	Consideration of their cases should be fair and based on natural justice
	5	To ban the use of unregulated private security firms in deportations
	6	To comply fully with the 1951 Geneva convention on refugees
	7	For a non-racist immigration policy which would not inflame racial tensions
	8	Not to discriminate against the immigrant population of Britain
	In fact under New Labour:
	1	Many asylum applicants never get here, being vetted at embassies abroad or stopped at borders, and there are now targets for reduced numbers applying
	2	Rights to benefits were replaced by a support system set at 70% of benefit levels, the ban on work was extended from 6 months to indefinitely, and there are new restrictions on judicial review and appeal rights
	3	Civil liberties have been further eroded, e.g. Amnesty estimates that 25,000 were locked up in 2004, and this included babies and children
	4	Numbers refused because of problems with the application form - before any consideration of the facts - rose from 1085 in 1999 to 23,795 in 2000
	5	Private firms still deport "failed" asylum seekers, provide most of the accommodation and run the detention centres
	6	Some of the above policies breach the Geneva convention, and Britain has proposed revising it to allow further restrictions on rights
	7	Immigration decisions have been specifically excluded from race relations laws, found to be racist for Czech Roma and alleged to be so for Zimbabwe. The police, UN and European bodies have expressed concern that speeches on asylum are followed by increases in racial attacks
	8	Some immigrants are refused some basic social care services and social workers must carry out immigration checks on people asking for help
	In addition:
		Dispersal leaves many applicants in condemned properties, with hostile neighbours and no local legal advice
		Many foreign workers, e.g. in agriculture, work illegally and are criminally exploited by bad employers while good ones lobby for a change in the rules
		Meanwhile, Britain advertises abroad for workers, welcomes 600,000 from the EUs new accession countries as good for the economy, and the census finds that a million more Britons have emigrated than we had thought
Home About Contact

Chapters

Chapters