Afternoon summary
The former prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair both paid tribute to John Prescott at his funeral service today in Hull today. (See 3.12pm.) Robyn Vintner was there too and she has this article with all the colour.
Campaigners have continued to criticise Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, for claiming that sustainable aviation fuel is a “game changer” that means a third runway at Heathrow can go ahead without climate targets being breached. (See 1.31pm.)
Refugee charities condemn new border security bill and urge ministers to open more safe routes for asylum seekers
Two more refugees charities have joined the Refugee Council (see 1.44pm) in criticising the border security, asylum and immigration bill published today. They both want the government to open more safe routes for asylum seekers.
Lou Calvey, director of Asylum Matters, said:
This bill was a chance to make the change that’s desperately needed in our asylum system: to tackle the backlog; to let people work while they await their asylum decision; to save lives by creating safe ways to seek asylum.
Instead, the government has ignored evidence and experts to create a bill that repeats the same mistakes that have been costing lives and causing immense suffering for years.
Each new, harsher approach to militarising our borders, from Stop The Boats to Smash The Gangs, has done nothing but drive up deaths in the channel, leading to a record-breaking number of preventable fatalities.
We fear these measures will only cost more lives. Starmer could end irregular migration and save lives in one simple step, by opening up safe access to the asylum system. Instead, he’s chosen to copy failed policies in a bid to court popularity with a vocal anti-migrant minority.
And Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, said:
Framing migration as a ‘national security’ issue to use counter terrorism-style laws will irreparably harm refugees, many of them children, and stoke divisions as we have seen in last summer’s racist riots.
Most people who seek asylum here are racially minoritised and legislation aimed at deterring, detaining and criminalising them perpetuates racial injustice both in our systems and on our streets.
We want to support the government to amend this legislation so it can be a platform on which to build real solutions to protect people seeking asylum and support them to build new lives in our communities.
This includes protecting the right to claim asylum on arrival, creating safe routes to reach the UK, giving people the right to work, and repealing each of the last government’s anti-refugee laws in full.
