The Home Secretary told lawmakers that the widely criticized nationality and border bill would create new safe and legal routes to the UK for asylum seekers, pointing out that the new routes would ensure that people no longer had to risk their lives trying to get to the UK. During a parliamentary debate last November – the day after 27 people drowned in the English Channel as they tried to cross through France – Patel assured lawmakers that the bill “creates safe and legal routes”. However, the Home Office has now acknowledged that the proposed legislation, which is due to return to the House of Commons this week, does not in fact contain any provision for providing safe routes with government support for asylum seekers. An April 5 letter from Home Secretary Tom Persglov to the UK-based humanitarian charity MSF is in direct opposition to Patel, stating that safe and legal routes “are not part of the bill”. Priti Patel signs the immigration agreement with Rwanda this week. Photo: Eugene Uwimana / EPA Sophie McCann, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) official in the United Kingdom, said the contradiction was indicative of how the government and Home Secretary tried to sell the deeply divisive proposals for asylum reform: “This is just the last case of this government either deeply misleading or secret about the provisions and the impact of the bill “. He added: “We are once again seeing the government’s slippery slope with the truth when it comes to acknowledging the damage that will be done to vulnerable people seeking security in the UK.” The failure to provide safe and legal routes to the UK has led to large numbers of asylum seekers risking their lives crossing the Channel in small boats, a scenario that led to last November’s tragedy in which a pregnant woman and three children were among of the dead. So far this year, more than 5,000 people have made the perilous trip to the Channel in small boats, three times as many as last year. Even so, the Home Office tried to give the impression that the proposed legislation offered safe routes: a “newsletter” released last December was entitled: “Nationality and Borders Bill: Safe and Legal Routes”. Although the government has provided some legal avenues for asylum, such as the resettlement program for Afghan citizens, experts say they are inadequate. They point out, for example, that this will not protect an Afghan asylum seeker who arrived in the UK in a small boat. Mr McCann said: “There are almost no safe ways for someone fleeing war, persecution or poverty to travel to the UK. “Instead of helping those most in need, the bill on nationality and borders will increase the risk of people dying trying to get here.” The bill itself, however, is problematic as it was dissolved for the second time by the House of Lords, which recently inflicted 10 defeats on the government over its immigration proposals. A man and his child go ashore in Dover. MSF says there are no safe ways for refugees to travel to the UK. Photo: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images Until both the Commons and the Lords agree on the final wording of the bill, it can not be passed into law. The bill will be back before the Communities this week. However, with the current parliamentary session expected to conclude within weeks, ministers may be forced to make concessions if they want to relax the bill amid growing legal tightening. Mr McCann said: “Even at this final stage, we call on the Home Office to reconsider: it must abandon its inhumane policies on the border bill and commit itself to providing safe and legal routes for all people fleeing war; and the persecutions. “Make no mistake, this government knows very well what the impact of this policy will be – it knowingly and willingly puts refugees in horrible misery.” The Home Office has already acknowledged that Ukrainians fleeing the war in their home country and arriving in the UK illegally would risk imprisonment under the terms of the bill. Asked to explain Patel’s assertion that the bill included safe and legal routes, the Home Office said its “new immigration plan” would strengthen existing routes for refugees, “so they do not have to put their lives on the line.” hands of smugglers “. A spokesman added: “The interior minister was referring to this and it is wrong to suggest that she misled parliament. We will continue to provide shelter to those in need who are escaping persecution through the global resettlement program in the UK. “In addition, we will allow more refugees to enter the United Kingdom through Community sponsorship.”
