Put asylum seekers on islands, Tories propose
The Tories have revealed a swathe of controversial policies designed to alleviate Britain’s apparent asylum crisis.
A Conservative Party commission, chaired by Tory MEP and former Home Office minister Timothy Kirkhope, drew up the proposals.
Mr Kirkhope said of the report: “We owe it to genuine asylum seekers to penalise those who profit from their plight and to re-establish fair and transparent systems of handling applications which enjoy public confidence, both at home and abroad.”
One of the most controversial plans is for asylum processing centres to be set up offshore, possibly on sparsely populated islands, probably in Scotland.
Beverley Hughes, the government’s immigration minister, jumped at the omission to name locations: “Will it be the Isle of Wight, the Isle of Man, isles of Scilly or Orkney?
“Residents of Britain’s islands have a right to know the answer to these questions.”
The report says offshore centres would provide “clean, safe, habitable environments with a low population density and which would offer no prospects for economic advancement.”
Vociferous criticism has been heard in the past year from protestors who appealed against Government proposals to set up accommodation centres in rural areas close to their homes.
In a bid to end the practice of travellers landing in the UK and then seeking asylum, immigrants would have to use apply at British embassies and consulates overseas before coming to the UK. The Tories also want to combat people-smuggling gangs.
The report reads: “The current asylum system encourages people to enter the country illegally, pushing them into the hands of smugglers and traffickers, partly because it is impossible to claim asylum overseas.
“It is therefore important to allow genuine asylum seekers to claim asylum legally. Allowing people to apply for asylum at British embassies and consulates overseas, as is the current Austrian practice, could achieve this outcome.”
The Tories also proposed placing asylum claimants on “probation” for five years before granting them full asylum status.
Oliver Letwin, Tory home affairs spokesman said of the proposals: “It gives us much food for thought as we move forward to further development of our policy on asylum.”
Tories already back plans to introduce a quota system where 20,000 asylum seekers would be allowed into the UK each year.
