IPPR has reacted to changes to the asylum system for those
seeking safety in the UK, announced today by the prime minister
.
Commenting on the plan, Marley Morris, IPPR associate
director for migration, trade and communities,
said:
“The new proposals announced by the Prime Minister today are
more of the same and fail to address a key factor behind the rise
in small boats crossing the Channel – a lack of safe and legal
routes for refugees, especially for vulnerable children and those
with family members already in the UK.
“Given that the success rate for Albanian asylum seekers is
currently 51 per cent, a policy that assumes that every single
Albanian asylum claim is not well founded will inevitably mean
that some people at risk will be returned.
“Tightening modern slavery laws to insist on immediate
objective evidence rather than suspicion risks weakening
protections for victims, undermining the UK’s flagship
legislation.
“Plans to ramp up the hostile environment – by for instance
reinstating data-sharing between banks and the Home Office – are
unlikely to have an impact on deterring asylum seekers, who
generally are unaware of the ins and outs of UK government
policy.
“We welcome the commitment to hire more caseworkers to help
clear the backlog, which is urgently needed. But we also need to
make sure that accommodation for asylum seekers while they wait
for their claim is at an adequate standard, to avoid a repeat of
the situation at Manston last month.
“Finally, it is unclear what the proposals for a new law
preventing people who enter the UK irregularly from staying would
achieve in practice. Asylum seekers arriving through safe
countries are already deemed inadmissible under the current
rules, but many are readmitted into the asylum system because
they cannot be removed to a safe third country. This law
threatens to renounce our international obligations while doing
little to fix the asylum system.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- IPPR’s research into the rise in Channel crossings can be
found here: https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/understanding-the-rise-in-channel-crossings
