We asked the candidates ...

How we treat refugees and those seeking asylum really reflects upon our character as a nation. A confident, compassionate nation would welcome refugees with open arms. The fact that the most vulnerable people in the world, fleeing conflict, torture and climate disaster, are being used as a political football for Reform and the Conservatives (and Labour to an extent) deeply upsets me.

Greens recognise that no person is ‘illegal’ and that those who are packing themselves into small boats for the dangerous journey across the channel are doing so out of absolute desperation. Desperation because of the situation in their birth country. But also desperation because this government have taken away safe and legal routes for them to apply to come to the UK.

Green MPs would prioritise establishing safe and legal routes, and fair and fast processing rather than blaming refugees for the challenges in society. We would also propose an increase in the overseas aid budget to support lower income nations and help people to stay in their home communities.

As the climate crisis increases, and sea levels rise and desertification spreads, and the political disruption that results, we will inevitably see rising levels of displaced people. This is why it is critical for politicians across the globe to have a long term and compassionate strategy to deal with those seeking asylum. Pulling up the drawbridge and leaving the rest of Europe to cope is unfair and unsustainable.

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I worked with refugees and asylum seekers for my most of my working life including refugees from Rwanda. I only ever found the refugees as genuinely fleeing from inhumane and near death experiences.

The Conservative Government’s current policy on immigration and asylum seekers is something I find hard to understand. We all want to see an end to dangerous crossings on small boats across the Channel, but their legislation will do nothing of the sort. Instead, Conservative plans would see those fleeing war and persecution detained and deported.  It would cost the taxpayer huge sums of money and, far from cracking down on illegal trafficking gangs, would punish those seeking safety in the UK.

It also runs roughshod over international law, which confirms that asylum seekers should not be punished for how they arrive in a country. Liberal Democrats know that the best way to stop these dangerous crossings is to provide safe and legal routes to sanctuary for those that need it. We would call for the scrapping of the Illegal Migration Act/Planes to Rwanda. Fix the broken asylum system by taking powers from the Home Office and establishing a new, dedicated unit to make decisions quicker and more fairly.

Provide safe and legal routes to sanctuary for refugees from all countries, including:

• An expanded, properly funded resettlement scheme.
• A new scheme for unaccompanied child refugees.
• Reuniting unaccompanied children in Europe with family in the UK.
• Humanitarian visas to allow asylum seekers to travel the UK to proceed with their claims.

The UK has a proud and long-standing tradition of opening its arms and providing sanctuary to those in need of protection. The Conservative government has trashed that legacy. Now, more than ever, we cannot turn our backs on those who need us.

We won’t rebuild our asylum system with symbolic gestures, but with practical solutions.

It is essential to restore integrity and rules to our asylum system. Clearing the backlog will be a clear deterrent and the initial step to a permanent solution. Labour will hire hundreds of new caseworkers, establish a new fast-track Returns and Enforcement Unit and ensure our courts process claims quickly.

We also need new stronger powers to enforce the law and bring these criminal gangs to justice. Powers, like Serious Crime Prevention Orders. Labour will:

• Create a new elite Border Security Command, modelled on the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism set up by the last Labour Government, to overhaul the Government’s approach to national security;
• Hire hundreds of additional specialist investigators, intelligence agents and cross-border police officers.

Labour’s Border Security Command will be bolstered by the use of new counter terrorist powers including:

• Border control stop & searches for organised immigration crime – expanding powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 to ensure enhanced stop and search;
• Financial & property investigation powers for organised immigration crime;
• Tough civil orders for border protection, using Serious Crime Prevention Orders ahead of conviction to restrict access to the internet, banking and travel for those suspected of being involved in smuggling people across the Channel in small boats.

I think reforming the asylum system is essential to:

• Crackdown on criminal gangs, through new Cross-Border Police Units and deeper security cooperation with Europe;
• End hotel use, clear the Conservative asylum backlog, and speed up returns to safe countries;
• Reform resettlement routes to stop people being exploited by gangs;
• New agreement with France and other countries on returns and family reunion;
• Tackle humanitarian crises at source helping refugees in their region.