A Labour peer and Holocaust survivor is urging the government to restore “a fair and compassionate” asylum and immigration system.
Lord Dubs was one of around 10,000 Kindertransport children taken in by Britain in 1938-39 to escape Nazi persecution.
The 92-year-old said right-wing politicians are seeking to “undermine a century of progress” and warned that the country’s post-war human rights settlement, which includes the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), is “fundamentally at risk”.
He argued that Britain should be proud of its record of offering sanctuary, rather than seeking to undermine it, adding that Brexit had “unleashed a divisiveness” never seen before in British politics.
Lord Dubs told the Standard: “My biggest worry is that we are no longer showing kindness - we are shutting our doors on vulnerable people
“We cannot take all [asylum seekers], but we can have a better attitude towards them.”
The former Battersea MP said that when children abroad have family in the UK, they should be provided a safe route to reunite instead of “joining people trafficking gangs and vile others” to get here.
Lord Dubs said he regretted his party’s decision to harden its immigration policy: “I hope it’s a temporary thing. I hope they will go back to showing the compassion they have shown in the past.”
He attributed the party’s shift to political pressures from opposition parties.
Labour has come under pressure from the left for not doing enough to rebut the immigration proposals of its opponents, such as Reform UK.
Nigel Farage has proposed plans to withdraw Britain from the ECHR and called for the mass deportation of migrants.
This week the Reform leader also announced his party would axe indefinite leave to remain for migrants.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce plans for a “progressive fightback” against the “far-right” later this week.
So far, the party has taken a harder stance on immigration, having axed the social care visa and pledged to stop small boat crossings.
Asylum seekers have previously used Article 8 of the ECHR, which states everyone has a right to family life, to prevent deportation. Labour is set to introduce legislation to put the decision back into parliament’s hands.
Lord Dubs said: “As one of the Kindertransport children who was reunited with my parents and built a life here, I know what it means when a country chooses welcome over hostility.
“Just as it fell to the post-war generation to build our human rights protections, it is the responsibility of progressives today to mount a strong defence of these principles, or risk them being cast aside.
“The UK helped shape the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Refugee Convention. We must not allow that legacy to be dismantled.”
He added that the British public’s generosity is underestimated. In July, the Refugees at Home charity recorded its highest number of summer placements for people seeking sanctuary – a reminder, he argues, that the UK’s instinct remains to help.
Research from advocacy group Hope Not Hate has found that 70 per cent of Britons are in favour of “people fleeing conflict or persecution” being allowed into the country, while only 11 per cent want to stop all immigration permanently.
Four in five Britons want the government to do more to bring divided communities together, said the research.
However, a Tommy Robinson-organised Unite the Kingdom march in London saw far-right activists and more than 110,000 protesters come together to fight against what they called “massive uncontrolled migration” earlier this month.
Lord Dubs’ comments are included as part of a foreword to a collection of essays on “The Future of Asylum” published by the think tank The Future Governance.
