As those who have read my views on this topic know, I am in favour of deporting those who cross the channel to Rwanda.
This is once we have a system were asylum applications can be processed abroad in a quick and fair manner. I would be stricter on some applications, one patient I have seen fled Iraq to come here after falling out with a family in the town he lived in. I think it is wrong for him to come here when he could have moved to another part of Iraq. To put things in context, the surgery I work in has lots of women who have had to flee relationships due to feeling unsafe, some of whom are still subject to harassment. I do not see them claiming asylum in France etc. I do think that it is silly that those in Afghanistan who helped UK forces directly, or by serving in the Afghan security forces before the Taliban took it over, are not given automatic rights to live here. So while I would make it easier for some asylum seekers to enter the UK, I would make it harder for others. Also, it is silly that the UK government is not working with other countries across the globe to come to a fairer solution to this as this is not just a UK issue.
But Jess Phillips has communicated things so well in Parliament in a few short minutes.
