Wednesday, March 08, 2023
Language reminiscent of the National Front
I am still so angry and appalled by the immigration legislation announced by Rishi Sunak yesterday, that it is difficult to find the words to condemn it properly.
It is hard to disagree with Gary Lineker, when he tweeted that 'This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.' The fact that he enraged so many Tory MPs in making that comparison was just a bonus.
Nobody is saying that this policy is in any way as bad as, or can be compared to, what followed in the 1930s, and it wouldn't be right to do so, but the language being deployed by Tory MPs and Ministers is typical of far right, popularist parties and is certainly reminiscent of that used by the National Front in the 1970s, as well as their successor organisations.
For a more considered response, however, we have to turn to the United Nations Refugee Agency. As the Guardian reports, they view the bill which introduces a contentious new law to stop small boats from crossing the Channel, as effectively “extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the UK”:
After Suella Braverman was forced to admit that the illegal migration bill was “more than 50%” likely to break human rights laws, the UNHCR said it was “profoundly concerned” by the bill’s provisions, which give the government the right to criminalise, detain and deport asylum seekers, saying it would be a “clear breach of the refugee convention”.
Unveiling the plans to MPs earlier, Braverman said the law places a legal duty on the government to detain and deport nearly all those who arrive “irregularly”, such as via small boats in the Channel.
There would be constraints on the rights of asylum seekers to use a judicial review to challenge decisions, she said on Tuesday, as ministers attempt to bypass the legal wrangles that have prevented the implementation of plans to send people to Rwanda.
The bill will also introduce an annual cap, to be decided by parliament, on the number of refugees the UK will offer sanctuary to through safe and legal routes – but only once the boats have been stopped.
In an unusually critical statement, the UNHCR said: “The legislation, if passed, would amount to an asylum ban – extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the United Kingdom for those who arrive irregularly, no matter how genuine and compelling their claim may be.
“The effect of the bill [in this form] would be to deny protection to many asylum seekers in need of safety and protection, and even deny them the opportunity to put forward their case.
“This would be a clear breach of the refugee convention and would undermine a longstanding, humanitarian tradition of which the British people are rightly proud.”
Just how desperate, cruel and diabolical this legislation is becomes clear when Braverman acknowledges that she is unable to say that the provisions are “compatible" with the European Convention on Human Rights, one of the lagacies of Winston Churchill, brought in to prevent a repeat of the horrors of the second world war.
The fact that many Tory MPs reacted to this statement by demanding we leave the convention, just underlines the sort of right wing dystopia we are drifting into.
It is hard to disagree with Gary Lineker, when he tweeted that 'This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.' The fact that he enraged so many Tory MPs in making that comparison was just a bonus.
Nobody is saying that this policy is in any way as bad as, or can be compared to, what followed in the 1930s, and it wouldn't be right to do so, but the language being deployed by Tory MPs and Ministers is typical of far right, popularist parties and is certainly reminiscent of that used by the National Front in the 1970s, as well as their successor organisations.
For a more considered response, however, we have to turn to the United Nations Refugee Agency. As the Guardian reports, they view the bill which introduces a contentious new law to stop small boats from crossing the Channel, as effectively “extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the UK”:
After Suella Braverman was forced to admit that the illegal migration bill was “more than 50%” likely to break human rights laws, the UNHCR said it was “profoundly concerned” by the bill’s provisions, which give the government the right to criminalise, detain and deport asylum seekers, saying it would be a “clear breach of the refugee convention”.
Unveiling the plans to MPs earlier, Braverman said the law places a legal duty on the government to detain and deport nearly all those who arrive “irregularly”, such as via small boats in the Channel.
There would be constraints on the rights of asylum seekers to use a judicial review to challenge decisions, she said on Tuesday, as ministers attempt to bypass the legal wrangles that have prevented the implementation of plans to send people to Rwanda.
The bill will also introduce an annual cap, to be decided by parliament, on the number of refugees the UK will offer sanctuary to through safe and legal routes – but only once the boats have been stopped.
In an unusually critical statement, the UNHCR said: “The legislation, if passed, would amount to an asylum ban – extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the United Kingdom for those who arrive irregularly, no matter how genuine and compelling their claim may be.
“The effect of the bill [in this form] would be to deny protection to many asylum seekers in need of safety and protection, and even deny them the opportunity to put forward their case.
“This would be a clear breach of the refugee convention and would undermine a longstanding, humanitarian tradition of which the British people are rightly proud.”
Just how desperate, cruel and diabolical this legislation is becomes clear when Braverman acknowledges that she is unable to say that the provisions are “compatible" with the European Convention on Human Rights, one of the lagacies of Winston Churchill, brought in to prevent a repeat of the horrors of the second world war.
The fact that many Tory MPs reacted to this statement by demanding we leave the convention, just underlines the sort of right wing dystopia we are drifting into.
