A Labour minister has suggested children born in Britain to immigrant parents could be deported as part of the Government’s asylum reforms.
Communities and Housing Secretary Steve Reed refused to rule out whether UK-born children with families who have been refused asylum would be removed.
Under the proposed asylum reforms, families with rejected claims could receive cash incentives to return to their home country – as long as it is safe to do so, according to The Telegraph.
The Home Office could “escalate” their cases to remove them from Britain if they refuse to leave.
It comes after a 33-page policy document released by Shabana Mahmood.
The Home Secretary argued there had been “hesitancy” by the department to return families, resulting in “particularly perverse incentives” for parents to send their children on small boats to the UK to “exploit” laws by establishing roots to stop removal.
Mr Reed was asked on BBC’s Today Programme whether UK-born children could be removed alongside their parents, however, he rejected questions.
He instead said: “You’ve got to take into account the individual circumstances. There are about 700 Albanian families in the UK whose applications for asylum have been refused.
Steve Reed refused to answer the question
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Mr Reed, the MP for Streatham and Croydon North, continued: “Albania is a safe country; they could easily go back there… but they haven’t been because they’re here with children.
“And the fact that is the case means other parents are putting children’s lives in danger by putting them on the boats”.
Asked whether Labour backbenchers criticising the plans should join the Green Party, who have wholly condemned the proposals, he said: “Absolutely not. Every single one of us who is a Labour MP was elected on the same manifesto, and that manifesto committed us now as a Government to securing our borders.
“It’s very important that we do that. The British people expect us to do that. But we also have to end this vile trade in human lives.”
Lord Alf Dubs spoke out against the plans
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Labour peer Lord Alf Dubs, who fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and arrived in England on Kindertransport, told the BBC: “I find it upsetting that we’ve got to adopt such a hard line, what we need is a bit of compassion in our politics and I think that some of the measures were going in the wrong direction, they won’t help.
“The hard line approach will not, in fact, deter people from coming here, at least on the basis of people I spoke to in Calais, for example.”
Lord Dubs also said that “to use children as a weapon, as the Home Secretary is doing, I think is a shabby thing” as he pointed to the fate of children born in the UK and integrated into communities whose parents are slated for removal.
The plans were also criticised by Emily Spurrell, chairwoman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, who said the changes “must not come at the cost of compassion.”
Nigel Farage has issued the warning to Rachel Reeves
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PAReform leader Nigel Farage, meanwhile, praised the measures as “extremely encouraging” while questioning whether it would be implemented.
He told a London press conference: “Rhetorically fine, following very many of the things that we’ve been saying for some years. But in practice, I doubt much of it will actually happen.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the measures did not go far enough, adding that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights was necessary to address the problem.
She said: “The fact is we have looked at this issue from every possible direction and the reality is that any plan that doesn’t include leaving the ECHR as a necessary step is wasting time we don’t have.”
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson MP said: “The Government must fix the asylum system, but stripping vulnerable people of their family heirlooms will not fix a system that is costing taxpayers £6million every day in hotel bills.
“This policy goes against who we are, a nation that has long responded with compassion to those fleeing the worst atrocities imaginable.”
Green Party MP for Bristol Central Carla Denyer said: “This is a new low from this government, plumbing the depths of performative cruelty, in hopes that the public won’t notice they have no answers to the real issues facing communities across this country.
“Confiscating the belongings of people fleeing war and violence, and trapping refugees in perpetual limbo, where even those who have been granted asylum would have the constant threat of deportation hanging over their heads, undermining integration and making it impossible to put down roots.
“These are extreme, inhumane proposals from a desperate and failing Government.”