THE UK Government's controversial immigration bill has been passed by MPs despite a small rebellion from Labour backbenchers.
The Immigration and Asylum Bill passed its second reading in the Commons on Monday by 264 votes to 90, majority 174.
PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham was among those to vote in favour of the bill, with just 14 Labour MPs voting against.
The bill has been described as "authoritarian" and "racist" by the Scottish Greens , while the SNP have warned that it is an imitation of "Nigel Farage's toxic agenda".
Under the plans, the time it takes for migrants to be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK would double from five years to 10.
The bill also includes new tighter rules on how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which covers an individual’s right to a private and family life, will be applied, which the Home Office hopes will cut the number of asylum appeals being granted.
The National told how the policy could also mean that immigrants may only be eligible for benefits and social housing if they become British citizens, and those in the country illegally could have to wait up to 30 years for long-term residency in the UK.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed that the bill aimed to safeguard the asylum system for generations to come by cutting the number of small boat crossings and instead direct people to alternative "safe and legal routes".
She told MPs on Monday: "This country has always provided sanctuary to those fleeing war and persecution and I’m proud of that fact. But we must accept that public consent for our asylum system is fraying.
“Unless we restore control we will lose the British people’s support entirely.
“My goal as Home Secretary is to rebuild the public’s confidence and thereby ensure we can continue providing protection to those in need, today and for generations to come.
“To do so, I believe we must restore fairness to our asylum system, fairness both to those who are fleeing war and persecution, and also fairness towards those communities who already bear the burden.”
But a number of Labour MPs hit out at the controversial plans, with little more than a dozen voting against the bill. Just one Scottish Labour MP opposed the proposals.
The 14 Labour MPs who voted against the immigration bill
- Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse)
- Richard Burgon (Leeds East)
- Ian Byrne (Liverpool West)
- Cat Eccles (Stourbridge)
- Imran Hussain (Bradford East)
- Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington)
- Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth)
- Clive Lewis (Norwich South)
- Rebecca Long Bailey (Salford)
- Rachael Maskell (York Central)
- Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
- John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington)
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill)
- Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East)
Whittome, one of the MPs to vote against the proposals, said: “There is little evidence that this bill will do what it claims, that it will fix the most serious issues in our asylum system.
“In fact, experts say that it will divert focus and resources to a system that is unfair, unsafe, and unworkable.”
Meanwhile, Labour MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy, who abstained on the vote, hit out at the UK Government's proposal to review refugees' status every 30 months if they are in the UK on a new "core protection" route which would be established by the bill.
She said: “This bill introduces a Diet Coke version of refugee status, the core protection visa, which will require refugees to be retested every 2.5 years, potentially for 20 years.
“Think of the cost.”
Meanwhile, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the bill "weakens legal protections, makes it harder for families to re-unite or stay together, and forces asylum seekers to pay for Home Office delays whilst denying them the right to work".
He told MPs: "The media, Reform and all the far right in Britain have created the most horrible and dangerous atmosphere in this country against refugees against migrants and against minorities.
"They've promoted racism and that racism is played out in the violence on the streets, the violence against mosques, the violence against synagogues and the violence against any minority group within our society."
Corbyn continued: "When I listen to the rhetoric on the media and follow it in some of the papers it seems to me that they've taken leave of all aspects of humanity whatsoever.
"I've been over to Calais and I've talked to people living in tents and they are desperate.
"They're desperate people trying to find somewhere to survive in this world and what they find is hostility, they find danger and they find abuse."
He added: "Nobody in their right mind would get into one of those dinghies and cross the Channel unless they were utterly desperate for it.
"So can't we just have a sense of humanity about this and have some international European-wide approach to the issues faced by people who are desperate?"
