The Nationality and Borders Bill has rightly drawn a lot of attention and comment, especially as the need to support refugees is so prevalent in people’s minds given the conflict in Ukraine.
Yesterday the Commons debated a series of Lords Amendments to the Bill. I was disappointed not to be called to speak in the debate, but if I had been called, I would have said that:
Fundamentally I see the core of the Nationality and Borders Bill as a humanitarian one. It is an atrocity that people are risking their lives trying to cross the channel, and dying, at the hands of criminal gangs and people smugglers and this has to stop.
This can only be stopped, and our borders maintained, by two measures:
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We must refute the notion that getting into a small boat and crossing the channel by paying a people smuggler is in any way shape or form a ‘valid route’ for entry into the UK, whatever the reasons behind it. The only way to achieve this is to remove the benefit of taking this route, by ensuring that people who get here illegally through criminal gangs do not skip the queue and benefit from it over those who come here through safe and legal routes.
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We must therefore ensure there are safe and legal routes that are easily accessible. Without these this approach breaks down, as refugees may feel they have no option but to pay the people smugglers and risk the illegal routes.
I have had discussions with minister Pursglove and Foster on how, in addition to this Bill, we can deliver these safe and legal routes; not just on paper but that are actually accessible to people, irrespective of geography. Only this way will our Bill meet its aims of support for refugees, preventing further tragedies in the channel, and protecting our borders.
Our provision of safe routes must be strengthened, learning the lessons of the response to support the refugee from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and we must evaluate and continually improve our provision of safe routes of asylum. I see this Bill as the start of this process, not the end. We have a proud history of supporting refugees in the UK, and this is shown again in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but in a rapidly changing world we need to ensure our response and safe routes work and provide refuge to those in dire need of help.
