Labour MPs will be ‘siding with criminal people smugglers’ if they fail to back crucial immigration reforms, Priti Patel warned last night.
The Home Secretary suggested that opposing her Nationality and Borders Bill, which faces a Commons vote today, could endanger more migrants’ lives during perilous Channel crossings.
By denying asylum seekers who have arrived illegally, the proposed Bill will reduce illegal immigration. The proposed Bill will increase the prison sentences for illegal immigrants and traffickers.
In response, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Bill was a ‘sham’ and was ‘failing’ to tackle the issues.
Labour MPs will be ‘siding with criminal people smugglers’ if they fail to back crucial immigration reforms, Priti Patel warned last night
Over 100 persons, including children and babies, were pulled from four Dinghies that were being unloaded at Dover Port Saturday.
In a letter to Ms Cooper, the Home Secretary wrote: ‘Labour has a clear choice. You can either side with criminal people or smugglers, or you can choose to support the British people.
‘Voting for the Nationality and Borders Bill is standing against the people smuggling gangs, introducing tough life sentences and speeding up the removal of those with no right to be in our country, including foreign national offenders.
‘Labour must choose between supporting our plan to reduce illegal migration and putting the British people’s concerns first or continuing to back open borders.’
The Bill will attempt to slash the so-called ‘pull factors’ which ministers believe attract migrants to the UK.
The key features of the plan include creating a second-tier asylum system that will give fewer privileges for those arriving in Britain illegally, even if they are eventually granted asylum.
It will increase the maximum penalty for illegal entry to the UK from six months’ to four years’ imprisonment, and introduce life sentences for people traffickers.
The Bill has also been strengthened even further with the Government bringing forward changes to increase the maximum penalty for overstaying a visa from six months to four years’ imprisonment.
Miss Patel insists the measures in the proposed laws are ‘firm but fair’.
This Bill grants controversial new powers for Border Force officers to intercept and divert migrants-carrying vessels.
The appeals process will be accelerated by giving asylum applicants only one opportunity for a legal challenge.
These measures are being taken after 26,000 immigrants have arrived in Britain from the beginning of this year, as opposed to 8,410 for the entire 2020.
Last month, Calais saw the most tragic episode of the Channel crisis when 27 migrants drowned in their inflatable boats.