Stella Creasy says Home Office decision ‘erects more barriers’ to refugees integrating and contributing to communities in UK

Good morning. On Monday MPs debated, and passed, the second reading of the border security, asylum and immigration bill. It is a signficant piece of legislation that repeals a lot of the Rwanda-policy law passed by the Tories and gives the authorities new anti-terrorism-style powers to tackle people smuggling. There is a good summary of it here.

During the debate Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said one reason why the Conservatives were opposed to the bill was because it repealed section 32 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 which “prevents people who enter the country illegally from gaining citizenship”. He went on:

By repealing that section, the bill will create a pathway to citizenship for people who entered the country illegally, and I think that is unconscionable.

This change flies in the face of reason. The British public want refugees who have been given safety in our country to integrate into and contribute to their new communities, so it makes no sense for the government to erect more barriers.

We know that men women and children who are refugees want to feel part of the country that has given them a home, and support to rebuild their lives. So many refugees over many generations have become proud hard working British citizens as doctors, entrepreneurs and other professionals. Becoming a British citizen has helped them give back to their communities and this should be celebrated, not prevented. We urge ministers to urgently reconsider.

What this message is saying is that we will judge your asylum claim, so we will let you stay in the country, but we will not expect you to be part of our community. I just genuinely, gently, say to my colleagues on the front bench, I think that is counterproductive. That is not where the British public are at.

They recognize that there are not safe routes [for many refugees wanting to come to the UK]. If you are an Iranian dissident right now fleeing the regime, there is not a safe route. So you may well have come in a boat. We should absolutely interrogate your claim. If your claim is not well founded, you should not be able to stay.

At first I hoped this was some sort of accident, a residue of the Illegal Migration Act, which legislated to have this same effect, still making its way through the system. But it doesn’t look like it. It looks deliberate. Even though those provisions of the Illegal Migration Act are being scrapped by this government.

A permanent bar on citizenship for illegal entrants is a bad idea. It creates a permanent group on non citizens who are forever excluded from civic life no matter how long they live here and no matter what they do.