THE UK Government’s Illegal Migration Bill, which critics say will create a de facto ban on seeking asylum in the country, has cleared the House of Commons.
MPs voted by 289 votes to 230, a majority of 59, to give their assent to Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s bill.
Senior backbench Tories, including former prime minister Theresa May and ex-party leader Iain Duncan Smith, voiced concerns in Parliament about the impact the immigration reforms could have on modern slavery protections.
Ministers gave in to some demands to avoid potential revolts among Tory backbenchers, with a series of Government amendments approved in the Commons.
The Tory government was unable to say whether the legislation complies with the European Convention on Human Rights.
How did Scotland’s six Tory MPs vote on the Illegal Migration Bill?
Five of Scotland’s six Tory MPs voted to back the Illegal Migration Bill. These included Alister Jack, John Lamont, and Andrew Bowie – who are all ministers in Rishi Sunak’s government.
David Duguid and David Mundell also backed the migration bill.
Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, did not register a vote. 66 other Tory MPs, including Sunak, did not vote.
Ross’s Tories have faced accusations of being “in hiding” at Holyrood for failing to either strongly back or criticise the UK Government’s plans.
Only two of the party’s 31 MSPs spoke in defence of the Illegal Migration Bill during a debate in the Scottish Parliament on the issue on Tuesday.
The bill is expected to face a stiff test in the Lords when it undergoes further scrutiny.
Braverman faced intense criticism on Wednesday after she claimed that “the people coming here illegally do possess values which are at odds with our country”.
The Home Secretary (below) went on: “We are seeing heightened levels of criminality when related to the people who’ve come on boats, related to drug dealing, exploitation, prostitution.”
She later failed to offer statistical evidence to back her claim that migrants crossing the English Channel are linked to “heightened levels of criminality”. She said it was based on information she had gathered from police chiefs.
Labour condemned Braverman’s comments, with a spokesperson calling it the “sort of invective” that signals that the policies being promoted “have failed”.
Campaigners accused her of “pouring petrol on a xenophobic and racist fire they [the Government] themselves have lit”.
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: “Suella Braverman’s dog-whistle remarks about the ‘values’ of migrants being ‘at odds’ with British ‘norms’ are appallingly divisive and shamelessly intended to stoke fear and hatred of people seeking refuge in this country.
“No-one should suffer such blatant exposure to prejudice and hostility, especially not in the form of highly insensitive remarks from the Home Secretary.
“The Government’s draconian asylum legislation is already set to tear apart legal protections in this country for refugees, victims of human trafficking and many other people, while Suella Braverman continues pouring petrol on a xenophobic and racist fire they themselves have lit.”
The Illegal Migration Bill will change the law so people who arrive in the UK illegally will be detained and then promptly removed, either to their home country or a safe third country such as Rwanda.
However, campaigners say there is no legal route to claiming asylum in the UK, meaning the bill will effectively ban it outright.
