Baroness Sally Hamwee (Home Affairs Spokesperson in the House of Lords) told us about the new industry in Turkey – making boats that were “disposable” and if they broke up on the sea would collapse inwards, thus trapping those travelling in them.
She made the point that the UK should be a leader in the refugee crisis, and although we had a proud record of welcome, that was now in the past. She described the visa arrangements for reuniting families too restrictive and only very exceptional circumstances indeed were compassionate circumstances taken into account.
This week the Immigration Bill is coming the House of Lords, and there are many dreadful consequences to come from it. She was most hopeful about 2 amendments where there was a chance of changing the bill. One was about 28 days being a maximum time for detention for immigration purposes, an issue that Liberal Democrats have been championing for some time. Some compromises were having to be made to get agreement from others, but there was some hope. The other issue is Tim Farron’s call for 3,000 unaccompanied children to be brought to safety in the UK. The work and fight for progress on these and other issues will continue throughout the progress of the Bill.
After hearing about all the challenges and difficulties ahead, we were all happy to hear from Lord Roger Roberts that after 10 years of campaigning on the issue, the Right to Work for asylum seekers who have been in the UK for 6 months has been agreed by a good majority in the House of Lords. It has yet to go back to the House of Commons, but it is good progress.
Roger said that it had been often (wrongly) said that the Liberal Democrats were looking for a cause. It is the other way round, he said, there were so many causes looking for a party, and that was us.