Some Conservative leaders have said that it is needed in the long run for the welfare of the country…reports Asian Lite News
Home secretary Suella Braverman, is due to speak at a Conservative press conference on Monday where she will propose that more people of the country should be trained as lorry drivers, fruit pickers and butchers so that they don’t have to rely on foreign workers, according to the BBC. The Conservative Party leader will also argue that it is “not racist” to want to control borders, the outlet further said. His party was elected on a promise to cut net migration, but it has instead hit a record.
As per the BBC, the Conservatives had promised to bring down the number of migrants to below 100,000 in a year. But this year, it is expected to hit a record of 700,000.
“There is no good reason why we can’t train up enough HGV drivers, butchers or fruit pickers,” according to excerpt of the speech released by the BBC.
Braverman will also say that “we must not forget how to do things for ourselves”.
“It’s not xenophobic to say that mass and rapid migration is unsustainable in terms of housing supply, service and community relations,” she is expected to say in her speech.
Her speech is being seen as a warning to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to act on his promise of cutting immigration.
Suella Braverman says more Brits should train as lorry drivers and fruit pickers to being down immigration numbers. https://t.co/yiN1hdzscM
Some Conservative leaders have said that it is needed in the long run for the welfare of the country.
“In the long term, we need immigration to come down because that’s what has been causing some challenges in local areas for a long period of time,” Trade Minister Nigel Huddleston was quoted as saying by the BBC.
Braverman’s comments at the National Conservativism Conference will come days after Rishi Sunak’s party lost nearly 1,000 councillors at local elections.
At the three-day conference, she is expected to emphasises that there is a need to reduce the overall immigration numbers – “the 2019 manifesto pledge and what we must deliver”, as per Independent.
The home secretary will tell the National Conservatism conference Brexit enables a high-skilled, high wage economy to be built “that is less dependent on low-skilled foreign labour”.
The archbishop cited forecasts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimating that the climate crisis alone would lead to at least 800 million more refugees a year by 2050…reports Asian Lite News
The archbishop of Canterbury has clashed with ministers after branding the government’s flagship illegal migration bill as “morally unacceptable” legislation that will “damage the UK’s interests and reputation at home and abroad”.
In a withering attack upon Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman’s plan, Justin Welby said it would not fulfil the prime minister’s pledge to “stop the boats”, ignored the key causes of the movement of refugees, and could break the system of international cooperation that promised to help those fleeing war, famine and conflict.
“[The bill] is isolationist, it is morally unacceptable and politically impractical to let the poorest countries deal with it alone and cut our international aid,” he said. “This is an attempt at a short-term fix. It risks great damage to the UK’s interests and reputation at home and abroad, let alone the interests of those in need of protection or the nations who together face this challenge.”
Jolted into a response, Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said the most senior cleric in the Church of England was “wrong” and defended the bill’s aim of criminalising, detaining and removing people who arrive in the UK in small boats to their home country or a third country such as Rwanda.
In his first intervention during a House of Lords debate on the bill, Welby said it did not address the two key causes of international migration: the climate crisis and war.
The archbishop cited forecasts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimating that the climate crisis alone would lead to at least 800 million more refugees a year by 2050.
“Even if this bill succeeds in temporarily stopping the boats – and I don’t think it will – it won’t stop conflict or climate change,” he said.
The bill could lead to the breakdown of the international pledge to aid refugees, he said. “The UNHCR has warned that it could lead to the collapse of the international system to protect refugees. Is that what we want the United Kingdom’s contribution to be in our leadership?” he said.
“It ignores the reality that migration must be engaged with at source as well as in the Channel,” he said.
He acknowledged that reforms to immigration laws were needed to “destroy the evil tribe of traffickers” facilitating the small boat crossings. But, he said: “The tragedy is that without much change, this is not that bill.”
The bill instead treated people-smugglers as “rationally trained economic actors and not appalling criminals”, he said, adding that the government should not delay setting up “safe and legal routes” for people seeking asylum in the UK. “There must be safe, legal routes put in place as soon as illegal or unsafe routes begin to be attacked. We cannot wait for the years that will take place before that happens.”
Welby said he planned to table amendments to the bill at committee stage, which would include plans that he said were missing in the current bill to combat people-traffickers and to update the 1951 UN refugee convention.
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson (L) speaks at a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, on Jan. 26, 2023. (Johannes Frandsen/Government Offices of Sweden/Handout via Xinhua)
The EU member states also support the introduction of restrictive visa measures in relation to third countries that do not cooperate on returns, the statement said…reports Asian Lite News
“The migratory situation in the European Union (EU) is strained”, the member states’ Justice and Home Affairs Ministers agreed at their Council meeting here.
“There is an urgent need to strengthen the external borders, increase returns, and prevent irregular migration,” they said, according to a statement issued by the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
“Difficulties in returning third country nationals who are not entitled to stay in the EU is a major challenge for many member states,” the statement said.
“Current return rates are not acceptable, and negatively affect the reception capacity, as well as the legitimacy of (the EU states’) national asylum and migration systems,” it added.
The Ministers agreed on the need for more effective cooperation with countries of origin, and for comprehensive migration partnerships and effective readmission agreements with third countries to prevent irregular migration and improve returns.
They agreed that the EU should use both positive incentives and restrictive measures and that all relevant policy areas, such as visa policy, development cooperation, trade and diplomatic relations, must be used.
The EU member states also support the introduction of restrictive visa measures in relation to third countries that do not cooperate on returns, the statement said.
The two-day informal meeting, which also addressed the fight against organised crime in the digital age, ends on Friday.
Since the height of the migration crisis in 2015, the EU has implemented measures to control external borders and migration flows better.
As a result, irregular arrivals to the EU have been reduced by more than 90 per cent. The EU and its member states are intensifying efforts to establish an effective, humanitarian and safe European migration policy.
Braverman is in fact opposed to freer movement of people from India to the UK, which is one of the Indian government’s demands in the current negotiations over a free trade agreement with the UK…writes Ashish Ray
British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak’s reported plan to restrict foreign students to premier universities in the UK could meet resistance from his chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt.
Hunt told media immigration was required to boost growth, adding there had to be “a long-term plan if we’re going to bring down migration in a way that doesn’t harm the economy”.
Besides, the British government’s department of education could also raise objections, as the contemplated cut-down would increase state funding of universities, who otherwise benefit from high fee-paying international students.
The chairman of Whitehall’s Migration Advisory Committee, Brian Bell, said in an interview to BBC that the idea said to be in Sunak’s in-tray could “send many universities over the edge”.
“Most universities for most courses lose money on teaching British students and offset that loss by charging more for international students,” Bell emphasised.
Indians constitute the largest contingent of foreign students in the UK at present. If the restriction being mulled over by Sunak becomes policy, they are likely to be the worst sufferers.
New figures disclosed net migration had exceeded half a million – an increase of 300,000 in a single year. Among additional, the steps Sunak is believed to be considering is a clamp down on visas for dependents of overseas students.
Sunak’s hard line Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, previously expressed concern about foreign students “bringing in family members who can piggyback onto their student visa”. According to her, they undertake “substandard courses in inadequate institutions”.
Earlier, in an interview to The Spectator magazine, she accused Indians of being the biggest illegal over-stayers in the UK.
Braverman is in fact opposed to freer movement of people from India to the UK, which is one of the Indian government’s demands in the current negotiations over a free trade agreement with the UK.
However, the right-wing, inward looking Conservative party are happy about their 42-year-old new Prime Minister contemplating curbing the intake of foreign students to reduce immigration. At the same time, some of his MPs are already beginning to give up on him.
One such lawmaker who won from a constituency that was formerly an opposition Labour party stronghold in the north of England, commented to the pro-Conservative Daily Mail newspaper: “Rishi would be a decent project manager. Or senior civil servant. But he’s not a natural Prime Minister. He’s just not the sort of guy you want to follow out of the trenches.”
Meanwhile, the UK’s National Grid issued its first emergency warning about a winter blackout. And inflation is soaring. “But”, the Daily Mail, highly influential among Conservatives, said: “The Prime Minister was absent. Or, if not exactly absent, busy elsewhere.”
Sunak recently visited Kiev to pledge 125 anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
As economic hardship bites, a majority Britons are seemingly beginning to tire of the war, which wasn’t the case in the summer.
In the Mail’s opinion: “After the unrelenting bombast of the Boris Johnson years, and the frenetic mayhem that was the month of Truss, such reflective disengagement may be welcome… But the country is experiencing a growing sense of crisis. And what it needs isn’t a manager, but a leader.”
It headlined elsewhere: “Dire warning for ‘tainted’ Tories (Conservatives) as bombshell polling reveals Sir Keir Starmer (Labour leader) is ahead of Rishi Sunak on 11 out of 12 key issues – including cost of living, NHS (National Health Service), immigration and Brexit.”
Indian group urges govt to resolve issue
An Indian diaspora-led students’ organisation on Friday urged the UK government to remove international students from the country’s overall immigration statistics amid unconfirmed reports that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak may be considering a crackdown on foreigners granted study visas.
According to some UK media reports, Sunak is mulling a crackdown on foreign students bringing dependents and studying so-called low-quality degrees at mediocre UK universities after the country’s net migration figures hit record levels.
Downing Street has indicated that “all options” to bring overall migrant numbers down are on the table. The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK, which campaigns for streamlined provisions for Indian students studying in the UK, said any move to arbitrarily rank universities would prove counterproductive in the long run.
“Students who are in the UK temporarily, should not be counted as migrants,” said NISAU UK Chair Sanam Arora.
“International students, of which Indians are the biggest cohort, bring a net revenue of GBP 30 billion into the British economy and go back as friends of the UK, furthering ties of trade, culture, and diplomacy. The UK’s higher education sector is one of our largest exports to the world, and we are hopeful that the government will ensure that there is no arbitrary definition of what counts as a ‘top’ university,” she said.
The group called for a “creative and innovative policy solution” that addresses the UK’s skills and labour shortages through its international graduates. The Universities UK International (UUKi), which represents over 140 UK universities, also sounded a note of caution over any policy moves to cut down international student numbers as a potential act of self-harm and pile on additional financial pressures on universities.
“Cutting international student numbers would run directly counter to the UK government’s strategy to welcome more students from around the world,” said UUKi Chief Executive Vivienne Stern. “International students make an enormous cultural and financial contribution to the UK. They help make our campuses and cities the vibrant, thought-provoking places they are known for being. They sustain jobs in towns and cities up and down the country,” she said.
“Beyond this, the financial contribution they make has been very significant for UK universities. Limiting international students would be an act of self-harm that would damage many parts of the UK,” she added. The concerns arise in the wake of the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures this week revealing net migration to the UK rose from 173,000 in the year to June 2021, to 504,000 in the year to June 2022 – an increase of 331,000 post-Brexit.
International students were a large contributory factor to this spike, with Indians overtaking Chinese students as the largest cohort of student visas for the first time. The Conservative Party-led UK government has a manifesto commitment to reduce migration “overall”, something reiterated in recent weeks and months by UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman. She has previously expressed worries about foreign students bringing in dependent family members who “piggyback” on a student visa and is believed to be looking at proposals to tackle the issue.
The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak working at the Darlington Economic Campus in Darlington. Picture by Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street
Hersha Pandya, Executive Director of UK Partner Relations of M Square Media, an education management company, has also aired her concerns over this new development…reports Asian Lite News
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to restrict the entry of foreign students to curb increasing migration is being seen as a setback for universities and the UK economy in general by migration and education advisors.
According to media reports, Sunak is considering curbs on foreign students taking “low quality” degrees and bringing dependents.
The UK Prime Minister’s spokesman said the idea was being considered after official figures showed net migration to the UK had climbed to a record half a million, the reports said.
The Prime Minister’s plans to bring down foreign student numbers could include restricting admissions to top universities, as well as restricting visas for students’ dependents.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been quoted as saying as per media reports that foreign students have been “bringing in family members who can piggyback onto their student visa” and “propping up, frankly, substandard courses in inadequate institutions”.
However, a government migration adviser warned it would bankrupt many universities. Moreover, an adviser on immigration policy has warned that some universities could go bankrupt if there is a clampdown on so-called “low-quality” degrees.
Hersha Pandya, Executive Director of UK Partner Relations of M Square Media, an education management company, has also aired her concerns over this new development.
“Firstly, it was the UK government that set a target of 600,000 international students which was met and delivered well in advance through the hard work of universities, agents, and third-party providers,” Pandya said, adding that “now the UK government is once again putting international students under the spotlight when these students should never be included in the net migration statistics. The UK government must stop this yo-yo effect if it wishes to promote the country as the number one choice for international students”.
Just last week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt insisted that immigration was required to boost growth, underscoring the need for “a long-term plan if we’re going to bring down migration in a way that doesn’t harm the economy.” Hunt said that migration would be needed “for the years ahead – that will be very important for the economy”.
In the 2020-21 school year, the number of international students at UK universities totalled 605,130, up by 48,505 or 8.71 per cent from the previous year’s total of 556,625 students. International students paid a total of 9.95 billion pound in tuition fees for the school year 2020-21.
According to media reports, Scotland Deputy First Minister John Swinney described the proposals as “stupid” while Education Minister Jamie Hepburn warned that the proposal would be “deeply damaging to Scotland’s world-class university sector.”
Moreover, the Scottish National Party has consistently praised the contribution made by foreign students and other migrants to Scotland.
ONS report also said an estimated 35,000 people arrived across the English Channel in small boats in the year ending in June 2022. But earlier this month that figure was put at more than 40,000 according to data released by the Ministry of Defence…reports Asian Lite News
An estimated 504,000 more people came to the UK than left last year, a figure greater than the population of Liverpool.
It smashes the previous post-war net migration high of 329,000 set in 2015. Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that in total more than a million people arrived in the country last year.
The report also said an estimated 35,000 people arrived across the English Channel in small boats in the year ending in June 2022. But earlier this month that figure was put at more than 40,000 according to data released by the Ministry of Defence.
The gross number of people who arrived in the UK was estimated at 1.1 million.
Though ONS figures only stretch back to 1964, analysis of census records shows that there was generally a net decrease of people from the UK until the 1990s, at which point the trend reversed and more started arriving rather than leaving.
According to the ONS, the bulk of the increase was driven by students arriving to study. A total of 487,000 student visas were issued in the year to June 2022, an increase of 71%.
The number of people granted asylum in the UK in the year to June 2022 was 24% lower than in 2019, despite there having been a 77% increase in applications.
A total of 63,089 applications for asylum were made – the highest since 2003 and 75% higher than during the peak of the European Migration Crisis in 2016.
Work visas increased by 72% compared with last comparable pre-pandemic data in 2019, with 331,000 issued in the year to June 2022.
The numbers were also bolstered by people fleeing the war in Ukraine, with more than 170,000 visas issued to Ukrainian nationals.
About 28,000 British nationals overseas status holders from Hong Kong came to the country, under a scheme launched in January 2021 to help them escape potential persecution. A separate resettlement programme to help people flee Afghanistan saw 21,000 people arrive.
During the same period a total of 45,000 British nationals left the UK.
Jay Lindop, director of the Centre for International Migration at the ONS, said: “A series of world events have impacted international migration patterns in the 12 months to June 2022.
“Taken together these were unprecedented. These include the end of lockdown restrictions in the UK, the first full period following transition from the EU, the war in Ukraine, the resettlement of Afghans and the new visa route for Hong Kong British nationals (Overseas), which have all contributed to the record levels of long-term immigration we have seen.”
Foreign students entering Britain after the easing of pandemic lockdown curbs was another factor, finance minister Jeremy Hunt noted.
Hunt said his austere budget plans announced last week would help “forge a different economy outside the European Union — high skill, high wage, the world’s next Silicon Valley, and with our own regulations”.
“And I believe we can do that because I think we’ve got an incredible country,” he added.
Anti-EU “leave” campaigners based their Brexit campaign on a promise to “take back control” from Brussels.
But ahead of the latest migration figures, interior minister Suella Braverman on Wednesday admitted the government had “failed to control our borders”.
The hardline Brexiteer vowed anew to tackle the issue of record numbers of migrants crossing the Channel from France.
But she struggled to explain to MPs how would-be asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution could now enter Britain legally.
Meanwhile, her ministry on Thursday released annual statistics showing more than 140,000 asylum seekers are now awaiting a decision — an increase of over 20,000 in three months.
Interior ministry figures for the year to September show there were 143,377 asylum applications needing determination, of which 97,717 had been waiting for over six months.
Some 85,902 people had applied in that year-long period, the highest number for almost two decades and almost double the number in the year to September, 2019.
More than 14,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK on small boats so far this year. In an attempt to deter the crossings, in April the government announced it would send some asylum seekers deemed to have entered the UK illegally to Rwanda to claim refuge there…reports Asian Lite News
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have vowed to toughen controls on migration into the UK as part of their bids to become next Tory leader and prime minister.
Sunak said he would tighten the definition of who qualifies for asylum and introduce a cap on refugee numbers.
Truss said she would extend the UK’s Rwanda asylum plan and increase the number of Border Force staff.
More than 14,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK on small boats so far this year. In an attempt to deter the crossings, in April the government announced it would send some asylum seekers deemed to have entered the UK illegally to Rwanda to claim refuge there.
However, no asylum seekers have been sent to the east-African country yet following a series of legal challenges.
The UK stands to lose the £120m it has paid to Rwanda if the plan is ruled unlawful by the courts at an upcoming hearing.
Both leadership hopefuls said they would explore similar deals with other countries.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told the Mail on Sunday the Rwanda policy was the right approach and that she was determined to “see it through to full implementation”.
Truss also said that if she became Tory Party leader and prime minister, she would increase Border Force staffing from 9,000 to 10,800.
She has also promised a strengthened UK bill of rights, adding: “I’m determined to end the appalling people trafficking we’re seeing.”
Former chancellor Sunak has also pledged to do “whatever it takes” to make the Rwanda scheme work and described the UK’s migration policy as “broken” and “chaotic”.
His plans would see the UK re-assessing aid, trade terms and visa options on the basis of a country’s willingness to co-operate with the return of failed asylum seekers and offenders.
He has also promised to give Parliament control over how many come to the UK by creating an annual cap on the number of refugees accepted each year, though this could be changed in the case of emergencies.
And he said he would introduce “enhanced powers” to detain, tag and monitor those entering the UK illegally.
He said: “Right now the system is chaotic, with law-abiding citizens seeing boats full of illegal immigrants coming from the safe country of France with our sailors and coastguards seemingly powerless to stop them.”
But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the pair’s proposals, saying they were wasting taxpayers’ money on the Rwanda scheme.
She said: “The Conservatives have been in power for 12 years. It beggars belief that they claim to be the ones to sort things out when they have both failed for so long.”
Last month, 47 people were told they would be flown to Rwanda, with a flight booked for 14 June. But after a series of legal challenges the flight was cancelled.
Another flight has not yet been scheduled.
Earlier this week, a Commons select committee cast doubt on the effectiveness of the scheme, saying there was “no clear evidence” it would stop risky Channel crossings.
Truss rejected Sunak’s criticism that it would be wrong to raise government borrowing to fund tax cuts – a major policy difference between the candidates.
She is pledging around £30bn in immediate tax cuts, arguing they will boost growth, while Mr Sunak has said immediate cuts could fuel already-soaring inflation.
Conservative Party members are due to start receiving ballot papers this week and the winner will be announced on 5 September.
Sunak, who quit as part of the government mutiny against Boris Johnson, topped the MPs’ ballots to qualify for the final run-off with Truss. But polls currently suggest the foreign secretary is the favoured candidate of party members, who decide the leader.
It is thought a significant chunk of the 160,000 or so Tory members will vote in the coming weeks.
Hustings will take place throughout July and August, and the two candidates will square off in a live BBC TV debate on Monday, followed by another hosted by The Sun and TalkTV on Tuesday.
Bookmakers bet on Truss
Truss has undergone a political reinvention to become the favorite to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative party and UK Prime Minister.
The Foreign Secretary campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union before embracing Brexit with the zeal of a convert after the vote went the other way. And she’s gone from yelling slogans as a child against Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s Conservative government and leading Oxford University’s Liberal Democrat society to become the darling of the Tory Party right.
“My parents were left-wing activists, and I’ve been on a political journey ever since,” Truss said in an ITV debate of Tory leadership candidates on Sunday. On Thursday, she told BBC radio that she’d got it wrong on Brexit.
The Rwanda policy is the right policy and @trussliz is determined to see it through and secure our borders – also increasing the Border Force to ensure UK has the proper protection in place directly at our borders.
Now, Truss stands six weeks — and one ballot — away from claiming the top job in UK politics, with only former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak standing in her way. British bookmakers have installed her as the favorite, and polling of party members by YouGov suggests she’ll soundly defeat her opponent in the runoff vote among the party grassroots.
Truss grew up in Scotland and then Leeds, where she attended a comprehensive school before going on to Oxford University to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She then worked for Shell as an industrial economist before moving to Cable & Wireless and the think-tank Reform.
The Home Secretary and Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the UK, Sarafa Tunji Isola, are meeting today to discuss the two countries’ shared interests and growing collaboration…reports Asian Lite News
The deal will see the UK and Nigeria do more together to support legal migration, tackle illegal migration and speed up the removal of foreign criminals. The commitment is already delivering: 13 Nigerian foreign nationals with no right to be in the UK were removed on a chartered flight on 30 June.
After the flight departed Nigeria, it flew to Ghana where eight Ghanaian foreign nationals with no right to be in the UK were returned.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Nigeria will also promote our shared bilateral economic interests. The deal delivers on the British people’s priority of controlling our borders and ensuring the immigration system is fair but firm.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said, “It is an important development that the UK and Nigeria have signed an agreement to co-operate on migration issues, to tackle illegal migration and the significant threat it poses to both nations. The deal will mean that operational teams in both countries will share their expertise to take the fight to criminal people smugglers who are responsible for a wider range of criminality and put profit before people while undermining the security of our two countries. This landmark agreement will increase the deportation of dangerous foreign criminals to make our streets and country safer. This is our New Plan for Immigration being put into action.”
The Home Secretary and Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the UK, Sarafa Tunji Isola, are meeting today to discuss the two countries’ shared interests and growing collaboration.
Last year the Home Secretary travelled to Ghana for a two-day visit to deepen the UK-Ghana’s security partnership. Whilst there, Priti Patel unveiled the Home Office-funded Ghana Immigration Taskforce Office which works to tackle organised immigration crime. Today’s flight to Ghana shows the partnership in action; delivering for the British public.
The MoU follows a joint communique signed in February between the UK and Nigeria which strengthened their security and defence partnership and returns deals signed with Serbia and Albania. Last year the UK and India signed a ground breaking partnership migration deal which accelerates the removal of illegal migrants.
The recently enacted Nationality and Borders Act will also deter illegal entry into the UK, breaking the business model of people smuggling networks, and speed up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK.
It is thought that as many as 67 people could have been jailed for such offenses. Many of those wrongly jailed will already have served all or the majority of their sentences…reports Asian Lite News
Seven asylum seekers in the UK have had their convictions quashed after being wrongly jailed for steering small boats across the English Channel.
Their case was thrown out on Tuesday over an “error of law” that saw five others have their convictions thrown out late last year for the same activity.
Lord Justice Edis found in those cases that the Home Office and Crown Prosecution Service had “misunderstood” the law, and that a “heresy about the law had been adopted” and then conveyed to “those who were investigating these cases, and passed on to those who prosecuted them.”
Two more such cases are known to be heard by courts later this year, though a higher number of wrongly convicted asylum seekers are believed to exist. Each must submit their own individual appeal before their cases can be quashed.
It is thought that as many as 67 people could have been jailed for such offenses. Many of those wrongly jailed will already have served all or the majority of their sentences.
Nima Bari, an Iranian man who was jailed for three years in January 2021 and falsely labeled a “small boat people smuggler” by the Home Office, said: “I lost 20 months of my life for no reason.”
Bari was cleared of facilitating illegal entry by steering a boat, but he must take further legal action to overturn a separate charge of entering the UK illegally himself because he mistakenly pleaded guilty.
The other men who had their convictions quashed were Altaib Mobarak, Mohammed Naeemaee, Amir Keshavarz, Khedr Mohamed, Mohsen Babakhani and Sayed Hossein Daroubord — their nationalities are not known, but many appear to have Iranian names.
Speaking during Tuesday’s ruling, Lord Justice Edis said these seven convictions were “in all relevant respects indistinguishable” from those who had their convictions similarly quashed last year,” adding: “In each, the crown court proceeded on an error of law.”
The last ruling he was referring to deemed that “an asylum seeker who merely attempts to arrive at the frontiers of the United Kingdom in order to make a claim is not entering or attempting to enter the country unlawfully.
“Even though an asylum seeker has no valid passport or identity document or prior permission to enter the United Kingdom this does not make his arrival at the port a breach of an immigration law.”
The government has struggled to deal with a growing number of asylum seekers arriving via the English Channel, and the arrivals have become a hot-button issue in certain sections of the public.
Home Secretary Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders Bill aims to curb arrivals with an array of changes to immigration law.
The bill would also increase the maximum sentence for the offense of assisting unlawful immigration to life in prison, and raise the penalty for illegal entry from six months to four years.
Patel continues to label all Channel crossings as illegal, despite the growing number of court judgments that suggest otherwise.
The French Minister accused the UK of closing legal ways to applications of asylum. “In France, there have been 150,000 asylum requests since January 1. In Britain, it’s 30,000.”…reports Asian Lite News
French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin has urged Britain to “take its responsibilities” on migrants, saying France will not be “hostage to UK’s domestic policy.”
“We have to work with our British friends. They must help us collectively to better fight against smugglers,” Darmanin said, according to French newspaper Le Figaro.
The French Minister accused the UK of closing legal ways to applications of asylum. “In France, there have been 150,000 asylum requests since January 1. In Britain, it’s 30,000.”
Following the death of at least 27 migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach Britain on Wednesday, he called for “an even more intense fight against smugglers.”
“Migrants should not be criminalised, but those who organise these transfers,” he added.
A growing number of illegal immigrants made Channel crossings to Britain recently. The BBC reported that more than 1,000 people had arrived in a single day in November for the first time, and more than 25,000 people have crossed the Channel so far this year, Xinhua news agency reported.
