A nationalist politician has claimed a controversial new law brought in to tackle dangerous Channel crossings will kill even more people.
SNP MP Anne McLaughlin is to write individually to every Tory MP urging them to snub the new border law, being debated in Parliament in December.
It comes amid concern about asylum seekers being bussed from Dover to a detention centre in Scotland.
Critics have said the Nationality and Borders Bill will not only make it a crime to cross the Channel – but make it illegal for anyone, including charities, to help people making the perilous trip.
The law will also give Border Force officials immunity from prosecution if they turn back people crossing the Channel who later die.
Last week at least 27 migrants died while making the trip in a dinghy.
The tragedy prompted a diplomatic war between the UK and France over how to solve the crisis.
McLaughlin, SNP spokeswoman for justice and immigration, said: “SNP MPs in Westminster spent weeks scrutinising the new bill and we are sure it will be even more dangerous for migrants. It’s going to result in more deaths.
“They say they are doing it to keep people safe – they aren’t. It’s to keep people out. But it won’t do that either.”
The bill also proposes making it possible to send asylum seekers to “offshore” immigration centres while their claims are processed.
Currently, asylum seekers are sent to detention centres in the UK. But the huge numbers mean some are sent on nine-hour bus journeys to Dungavel, Lanarkshire.
Kate Alexander, head of Scottish Detainee Visitors, said: “When I visited Dungavel in October, I learnt around 50 people who had crossed the Channel had been brought there for ’processing’. Staff expect it to happen again.”
The Home Office was asked to comment.
