'Cruel' Nationality and Borders Bill passes third reading

image Caritas Europa

The Nationality and Borders Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, with 298 MPs in support and 231 against, giving the government a majority of 67 votes on its controversial overhaul of the immigration system.

The Bill make it much more difficult for refugees to seek asylum in the UK and makes it illegal for British subjects to help migrants. It authorises border forces to turn back dinghies in the Channel and proposes that those seeking asylum should be kept in off-shore 'processing centres'.

Critics say the Bill will create a 'second-tier category of citizenship by giving the government powers to strip a naturalised person of their citizenship without notice.

Office of National Statistics data suggests that nearly six million people in England and Wales could be affected by the change, including two in every five people from non-white ethnic minorities compared to one in 20 white people.

This figure includes almost 410,000 dual nationals born in the UK, as well as 5.2 million people born abroad. These 5.2 million people could potentially be stripped of their citizenship even where doing so would render them stateless.

Campaigners and MPs have raised concerns over the impact of the bill on human rights. A report from Freedom From Torture concluded that the Bill represented "the biggest legal assault on international refugee law ever seen in the UK".

Earlier this year, Sarah Teather, director of Jesuit Refugee Service described the proposed legislation as: "deeply cruel, impractical, and destructive to the common good."

First responses to the vote:

Bishop William Nolan and Jill Kent, President and Chair of Justice and Peace Scotland said in a statement: "The UK government's Nationality and Borders Bill represents a disgraceful attack on vulnerable people. At its heart is a deliberate misrepresentation of the lives of asylum seekers and the risks which they are driven to in order to seek safety.

"We share the concerns voiced by the UNHCR, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, senior police, and the unanimous voice of all those who work directly with asylum seekers and victims of modern slavery that this Bill will not achieve its aims. Their fears that this Bill will make the situation worse for all those seeking safety, that the government is breaking international law by criminalising the seeking of asylum through irregular means, and that contrary to the government's claims this will drive desperate people into the hands of traffickers where they risk exploitation and abuse.

"We continue to stand in solidarity with all those who are displaced, with all those who with generosity of heart seek to welcome the stranger and echo the words of His Holiness Pope Francis this week in Greece who reminded us that 'only if it is reconciled with the most vulnerable will the future be prosperous. When we reject the poor, we reject peace.' "

Katrina Alton from the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace tweeted the the Bill "criminalizes those seeking refugee and asylum in the UK and gives the Home Secretary the power to strip UK citizens of their citizenship. What a day for democracy when the House of Lords is our last hope!"

Apsana Begum MP for Poplar and Limehouse tweeted: "The Tories have just forced through #NationalityandBordersBill - with loud cheers from their MPs. The suffering this Bill will cause to the most vulnerable people is immeasurable. They are despicable."

Restore, a project of Birmingham Churches Together which supported migrants and refugees, tweeted: "Massively disappointing news but this is a setback not an ending. The campaign goes on. Asylum seekers should have the right to work to take them out of poverty, use their skills, contribute to the economy and aid integration."