This week in Parliament, the Nationality and Borders Bill passed its remaining stages through the House of Commons. The Bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 5 January 2022.
The Bill puts into law the Government's New Plan for Immigration and includes far-reaching reforms to the asylum system to address many of the underlying factors to deter illegal migration. Measures include a one-stop appeals process; the ability to process claims outside the country; the ability to have differentiation and declare inadmissible to our asylum system those who arrive in the UK having passed through safe countries; and life sentences for people smugglers. People should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, and nobody needs to flee France in order to be safe.
Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire, said:
It is important that the UK offers safety and security to those facing persecution and oppression. However for the system to work as needed, we must stop the influx of illegal immigration, and in particular, eradicate the callous people-smuggling criminal gangs that prey on vulnerable migrants, sometimes with dreadful consequences.
