SNP condemn ‘dark day’ as Priti Patel presents plans to let Border Force turn away migrant boats at sea
The SNP have condemned Priti Patel’s plans to allow Border Force turn away migrant boats at sea trying to enter the UK.
The Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill was introduced to Parliament yesterday and also contains provisions to set up offshore processing centres and allow asylum seekers to be sent away from the UK while their claims are determined.
Dubbed the “anti-refugee Bill” by campaigners intends to make it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK without permission.
There would be a maximum sentence handed out to those entering the country unlawfully rising from six months’ imprisonment to four years.
The SNP'S Shadow Home Secretary Stuart Mcdonald MP claimed the bill represented a “dark day” for the country.
He said: “The Tory government's Nationality and Borders Bill is absolutely abhorrent – a dark day that sees the UK ripping up the Refugee Convention and trashing its previous history of providing a place of refuge.
"The warnings could not be clearer - vulnerable people and refugees seeking safety will now be treated as criminals, cruelly turned back, and even sent to offshore detention facilities.”
or decades ordinary people have taken extraordinary measures to flee oppression -- from those escaping ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, torture in Zimbabwe or war in Syria -- having to make dangerous journeys to reach safety in the UK. They have gone on to become law abiding citizens playing by the rules and paying their taxes as proud Britons.the Home Office has insisted the reforms are necessary, with the number people attempting to come to the UK across the Channel last year reaching a record high.
Convicted people-smugglers could also face life behind bars, up from the current maximum tariff of 14 years, under the proposals.
Border Force would intervene to tackle people-smugglers and turn migrant boats away but they would need the agreement of other states, like France, to drive them back into foreign waters.
The Home Office says the most “radical” changes in decades will “prioritise those most in need of protection while stopping the abuse of the system”.