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Government's plans to punish refugees branded ‘desperate and cruel’

Amnesty International says ‘people fleeing persecution and conflict will be irreparably harmed by these proposals’

NEW government laws to punish refugees who arrive “illegally” in Britain after making perilous journeys across the English Channel in small boats were slammed as “desperate and cruel” today.

The Illegal Migration Bill, outlined by Home Secretary Suella Braverman in Parliament on Tuesday, will see migrants arriving on small boats “swiftly removed.”

Under the plans, people crossing the Channel will not be able to claim asylum in Britain and will face a lifetime ban on returning after they are removed.

They will also never be allowed to settle in the country or gain citizenship.

Ms Braverman admitted that she “can’t say definitively” if the new Bill complies with human rights laws.

Ministers have been accused of setting an “utterly terrible example” to other countries with the proposals, which have been widely condemned by charities and human rights organisations.

Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said the plans are “more akin to authoritarian nations” and insisted the proposals will not stop desperate people crossing in small boats.

He said the legislation would instead leave “traumatised people locked up in a state of misery being treated as criminals and suspected terrorists without a fair hearing on our soil.”

Amnesty International UK lambasted the plan as an attempt to disqualify people’s asylum claims en masse regardless of the strength of their case.

The human rights group said the Bill contained nothing “fair, humane or even practical” and described it as a “shocking new low.”

Steve Valdez-Symonds, of Amnesty International UK, said: “It’s frankly chilling to see ministers trying to remove human rights protections for groups of people whom they’ve chosen to scapegoat for their own failures.

“People fleeing persecution and conflict will be irreparably harmed by these proposals, while the UK is setting an utterly terrible example to other countries around the world.”

But the Bill will change nothing unless there is a deal done with France on crossings, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Marley Morris, the think tank’s associate director for migration, trade and communities, said: “This Bill is both unethical and impractical. 

"As with last year’s Nationality and Border Act, this Bill will simply add to the distress of Afghans, Syrians, Iranians and others seeking asylum in the UK, without deterring people from making the journey.

“The government can pass law after law, but without a deal with France and new safe and legal routes for people seeking asylum, people will continue to be forced to make the perilous journey across the Channel.”

Weyman Bennett, co-convener of Stand Up to Racism, said that anti-racists will mobilise in their thousands in protest at the government’s new legislative persecution of refugees.

He said: “Here we have yet another unthinkably heinous and at the same time wildly reckless attempt by Sunak, Braverman and co to haul the narrative to the right.

“It is wholly about the demonisation and scapegoating of refugees. We reject the politics of hate and welcome refugees.

“Refugees are not to be blamed for the cost-of-living crisis — they do not own the gas companies. 

“Electricity companies have profited by billions while refugees are the destitute fleeing war-torn countries.

“We must stand up to racism.”

Campaigners will take to the streets of London, Glasgow and Cardiff in Resist Racism protests marking United Nations Anti-Racism Day on March 18.

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