by Bethany Rielly

PROTESTERS are gearing up to greet MPs on Tuesday outside Parliament to demand they vote against the Borders Bill as it returns to the Commons for its third reading. 

The Nationality and Borders Bill seeks to overhaul the asylum system, introducing for the first time separate systems for asylum-seekers depending on their means of entry to Britain. 

The Bill returns amid widespread condemnation, with the British Medical Association becoming the latest group to oppose the proposals. 

In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, British doctors said that plans to offshore asylum-seekers will cause “lasting and profound harm.”

Former detainees held on the island of Nauru, the former site of Australia’s offshore asylum processing centre, have also spoken out in a bid to urge British MPs not to follow the same policy. 

Speaking in a campaign video by Human Rights Watch, Elahi Zivardar, who was detained by Australia for six years, said: “My message to UK parliamentarians is not to make the same costly mistake Australia has already made, look at the data, look at the price tag, look at the human cost.”

Proposals in the Bill that are likely to spark fiery debate in the Commons on Tuesday are introducing a “two-tier” system for asylum-seekers based on their means of travel to Britain and the criminalisation of asylum-seekers who arrive via irregular routes.

Other measures include opening the door to offshore asylum processing centres, granting the Home Secretary powers to revoke people’s citizenship without notice even if they are not dual nationals and giving Border Force powers to turn around small boats in the Channel.

The Bill also seeks to give officers immunity from prosecution in the event a refugee is killed during a “push-back” operation.

Following pressure, Ms Patel has removed a clause which could have seen charities such as the RNLI criminalised for saving refugees’ lives at sea.

But despite the tragic deaths of 27 refugees in the Channel last month, PM Boris Johnson and the Home Secretary have refused to back down on proposals to allow push backs in the Channel.

Dozens of amendments have been tabled, including proposals to scrap NHS charges and a £1,000 fee to register children as British citizens. 

Migrants Organise and Soas Detainee Support will on Tuesday oppose the legislation in a rally outside Parliament from 1pm.