Labour’s Watered Down Immigration Policy Shift Sparks Backlash

[Social Media]

 

Labour is rolling back key border laws aimed at preventing illegal migrants from gaining UK citizenship and enforcing scientific age assessments on asylum seekers. The Home Office has announced the repeal of Tory-introduced rules that barred small boat arrivals from ever becoming citizens and revoked powers that allowed ministers to classify asylum seekers as adults if they refused scientific age checks.  

 

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, condemned the decision as a “total capitulation to people smugglers” and warned it would “make the UK the soft touch of Europe.” However, government sources defended the move, arguing that the previous Tory government had failed to implement these measures effectively. They pointed out that the powers had never actually been used since they were introduced.  

 

Last week, Home Office ministers unveiled the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which they claim will strengthen efforts to tackle the small boats crisis. However, the legislation’s details reveal that large sections of the Illegal Migration Act, passed in 2023, will be repealed. That act had previously made almost anyone entering the UK illegally ineligible for settled status and, ultimately, citizenship. Additionally, it allowed officials to treat asylum seekers as adults if they refused scientific age assessments.  

 

Philp expressed concerns that reversing these measures would lead to “dangerous young men being placed with teenage girls” and insisted that “Starmer is a weak Prime Minister. He is weak on borders and is weak when it comes to protecting our borders, our children, and our people. I will fight tooth and nail against this craven capitulation to illegal immigrants and people smugglers when the Bill comes to Parliament.”  

 

A significant concern among critics is that many asylum seekers falsely claim to be minors to increase their chances of being granted refugee status. Official data from the first half of last year showed that more than 1,300 migrants were caught pretending to be underage after being flagged by authorities. Government figures also indicate that three-quarters of unaccompanied minors were granted asylum in the year leading up to last September, compared to only half of adult applicants. Those classified as minors receive school placements and are housed by local councils rather than placed in migrant hotels.  

 

Currently, UK officials can only classify someone claiming to be a child as an adult if their appearance “very strongly suggests they are significantly over 18 years of age.” In contrast, other European nations, such as France and Germany, routinely use medical testing, including X-rays of hand and wrist bones, molar teeth scans, and MRI scans of knee and collar bones, to determine age more accurately.  

 

The powers to conduct such assessments were approved in the 2022 Nationality and Borders Act, but they have yet to be enforced. The 2023 Illegal Migration Act went a step further, allowing ministers to mandate that asylum seekers refusing scientific age tests be treated as adults. Labour has now decided to retain the weaker provisions from the 2022 law while reserving the right to introduce stricter measures in the future if necessary.  

 

A government source pushed back against accusations that Labour is relaxing border security, insisting that “Labour will continue to use age assessment and won’t hesitate to go further in legislation if needed.” They also argued that the ban on citizenship for illegal arrivals had left asylum seekers in limbo, preventing their cases from being processed. Labour has pledged to clear the backlog of 177,000 asylum cases, which has resulted in 35,000 migrants being housed in hotels at an annual cost of £3 billion.  

 

Suella Braverman, the former home secretary who championed the Illegal Migration Act, strongly criticized Labour’s new approach, accusing the government of “decriminalising illegal migration.” She argued that the new Border Security Bill “removes all the security and provisions we had put into place to keep the UK safe and is a disgrace.”  

 

“To put it bluntly, it is an insult to the British people. It shamefully opens up our borders and disgracefully allows illegal immigrants to become citizens,” Braverman said. “If you enter the UK illegally, you should be detained, deported, and banned from ever returning.”  

 

Reform MP Rupert Lowe also condemned the changes, describing the asylum system as being “as soft as a boiled maggot.” He called for a stricter stance, stating, “Zero tolerance is required. It is abundantly clear that thousands of males are fooling the incompetent Home Office through lies over their age, sexuality, religion, and more. It is a scam. The word of the migrant is often taken as the truth, with ‘the benefit of the doubt’ regularly implemented as official policy.”

 

Based on a report by Daily Telegraph 2025-02-03

 

 

[JonnyF]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

Labour is rolling back key border laws aimed at preventing illegal migrants from gaining UK citizenship and enforcing scientific age assessments on asylum seekers.

 

Of course they are.

 

They always break their promises. You can't trust them as far as you can throw them. Starmer is as bad as Biden in that regard, and will suffer the same fate. 

[Smokey and the Bandit]

"“To put it bluntly, it is an insult to the British people. It shamefully opens up our borders and disgracefully allows illegal immigrants to become citizens,” Braverman said. “If you enter the UK illegally, you should be detained, deported, and banned from ever returning.”  

 

She is of course 100% correct!

[mikeymike100]

It's almost like Labor wants illegals to enter the UK, or am i missing something?

[BritManToo]

13 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

It's almost like Labor wants illegals to enter the UK, or am i missing something?

All western governments want immigrants (but not foreign wives of citizens), I'm not sure why.

It's the citizens that don't want the immigrants.