IMMIGRATION
24 January 2005
As the general election looms, it is time for the Tories to put on a show of getting tough on immigration - especially when they are behind in the polls. This performance has been repeated over the last 40 years.
The latest promises from the Tories are that they will: put round the clock security on ports; curb work permits with the introduction of a points system for immigration; give the UNHCR the role of deciding which asylum seekers enter the UK; and arrange for other countries to hold asylum seekers wanting to come to the UK.
The Tories further committed to withdrawing the UK from the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, and also amending the Human Rights Act. The Tories further believe that parliament would annually set quotas for the number of immigrants let into the country.
The proposals sound good, but within hours it was all unraveling. The Tories were unable to identify a single country which was likely to agree to allow asylum seekers to be held and processed in their countries. The UNHCR condemned the proposals and said that they would refuse to co-operate.
This is what comes of trying to manoeuvre others into taking responsibility for immigration. Why ever should the UNHCR decide who enters the UK? And the commitment to allow parliament to set an annual total for the number of immigrants is meaningless and not a commitment to end mass immigration at all. Parliament might well set the total at 200,000 each year for all Michael Howard knows - especially near election time, as he should know from when he was Home Secretary and had a tendency to grant more asylum claims (in the name of compassion, of course).
Nor did the Tories take any account of the fact that since both they and Labour have conceded so much power to the EU, then the EU would prevent the Tories making their new policy effective. Quite apart from an EU official stating that the Tory proposals would breach EU law, the fact is that EU citizens have full unrestricted access into the UK. Consequently, anyone granted asylum in any other EU country can automatically come and settle in the UK. UK immigration controls are only as strong as the weakest EU country’s border controls.
The only way of dealing with that, is to leave the EU. The Tories have not the slightest intention of taking the UK out of the EU, and instead are making it clear that they support the admission of Turkey, a relatively poor Muslim country (which borders with Iraq and Iran) with a very high population growth, into the EU as well. The impact of Turkish admission on UK immigration should not take too much puzzling out - even for a Tory.
The Tory policy is an unworkable sham. The Tories are still trying to whitewash over the problem rather than deal with it decisively.
There is no good reason why the UK should accept any asylum seekers and the whole multi cultural experiment should be abolished. We need to see a clear end to mass immigration into the UK and the deportation, without exception, of all illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers.
As the general election looms, it is time for the Tories to put on a show of getting tough on immigration - especially when they are behind in the polls. This performance has been repeated over the last 40 years.
The latest promises from the Tories are that they will: put round the clock security on ports; curb work permits with the introduction of a points system for immigration; give the UNHCR the role of deciding which asylum seekers enter the UK; and arrange for other countries to hold asylum seekers wanting to come to the UK.
The Tories further committed to withdrawing the UK from the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, and also amending the Human Rights Act. The Tories further believe that parliament would annually set quotas for the number of immigrants let into the country.
The proposals sound good, but within hours it was all unraveling. The Tories were unable to identify a single country which was likely to agree to allow asylum seekers to be held and processed in their countries. The UNHCR condemned the proposals and said that they would refuse to co-operate.
This is what comes of trying to manoeuvre others into taking responsibility for immigration. Why ever should the UNHCR decide who enters the UK? And the commitment to allow parliament to set an annual total for the number of immigrants is meaningless and not a commitment to end mass immigration at all. Parliament might well set the total at 200,000 each year for all Michael Howard knows - especially near election time, as he should know from when he was Home Secretary and had a tendency to grant more asylum claims (in the name of compassion, of course).
Nor did the Tories take any account of the fact that since both they and Labour have conceded so much power to the EU, then the EU would prevent the Tories making their new policy effective. Quite apart from an EU official stating that the Tory proposals would breach EU law, the fact is that EU citizens have full unrestricted access into the UK. Consequently, anyone granted asylum in any other EU country can automatically come and settle in the UK. UK immigration controls are only as strong as the weakest EU country’s border controls.
The only way of dealing with that, is to leave the EU. The Tories have not the slightest intention of taking the UK out of the EU, and instead are making it clear that they support the admission of Turkey, a relatively poor Muslim country (which borders with Iraq and Iran) with a very high population growth, into the EU as well. The impact of Turkish admission on UK immigration should not take too much puzzling out - even for a Tory.
The Tory policy is an unworkable sham. The Tories are still trying to whitewash over the problem rather than deal with it decisively.
There is no good reason why the UK should accept any asylum seekers and the whole multi cultural experiment should be abolished. We need to see a clear end to mass immigration into the UK and the deportation, without exception, of all illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers.
posted by erc @ 5:02 pm
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