Priti Patel announces new laws for asylum system

Priti Patel has promised new laws to deny asylum to those using illegal routes to enter the UK, after calling the current system “fundamentally broken”.

The aim, as announced by the home secretary at the Conservative party conference, is to stop “endless legal claims” from refused asylum seekers starting from next year.

Patel has defined the new system “firm but fair”, with immediate acceptance for those seeking asylum and coming using legal routes. At present, more than 40,000 people are waiting their decision under the current system, and half of them has already been waiting for a year or more.

Patel claimed that the new system would be:

“Fair by welcoming people through safe and legal routes,” she said. “But firm because we will stop the abuse of the broken system. Firm, because we will stop those who come here illegally making endless legal claims to remain. And firm, because we will expedite the removal of those who have no claim for protection.”

Minnie Rahman, public affairs and campaign manager at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrant, has joined other human rights campaigners in their fight against Patel’s announcement.

Rahman said:

“Patel’s speech shows a determination to make things worse, not better, by focusing on getting as many people as possible out of the UK as fast as possible.

“What she should be focusing on are the workable solutions already presented to her many times over: policymaking based on evidence and grounded in the rule of law; an overhaul of Home Office systems and training to eradicate racism; and more safe legal routes to claim asylum so that people do not risk death in their quest to reach safety.”

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