In Parliament, I have been leading the Opposition’s scrutiny of the Nationality and Borders Bill as Shadow Immigration Minister. We are challenging the Bill ‘line-by-line’ over the next few weeks.
This week’s sessions included rectifying historical injustices in UK law for British Overseas Territory Citizens. We welcomed these measures.
However, we also discussed more controversial measures, like the creation of a two-tiered system for refugees, which judges vulnerable people based on how they arrived here in the UK, not on their needs.
Labour is strongly opposed to this and I made my views clear to Ministers this week, as I believe the Government is dehumanising refugees. In practice, the two-tiered system would see refugees who have fled Afghanistan through third countries being penalised and later criminalised. It is victim blaming of the most crass and immoral type.
On Wednesday, I was proud to join the Refugees Welcome rally outside Parliament to voice my concerns with the Bill.
