'Rank Hypocrisy': Labour Slammed For Keeping Parts Of Tory Immigration Bill They Used To Criticise

Labour has been accused of “rank hypocrisy” for keeping key parts of Tory immigration laws they used to oppose.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper unveiled the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which is aimed at stopping asylum seekers coming to the UK in small boats from France.

She said the legislation would repeal most of the measures in the Tories’ Illegal Migration Act, including the plan to deport immigrants to Rwanda.

However, the new bill does still retain some of the Tory plan, including the controversial ban on asylum seekers claiming protection under modern slavery laws.

Keir Starmer led Labour’s opposition to the move, telling the Commons in March 2023: “On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the successes of women in our society.

“It’s a crying shame that as we do so we face legislation which drives a coach and horses through our world-leading modern slavery framework, which protects women from exploitation.”

Cooper herself also opposed the Tory bill in its entirety when it was debated by MPs the same year.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: “For the government to choose to keep even small parts of the Illegal Migration Act is rank hypocrisy.

“As the prime minister and all who serve under him must know, human rights are for everyone not just your friends and they are for all times not just for when it suits.

“The government must safeguard adults and children who’ve suffered the trauma of human trafficking, torture and war - not trample all over them out of political convenience.

“Keeping parts of this atrocious legislation signals a similar disdain for human beings and the rule of law so viscerally demonstrated by the last government - particularly given it is the people most vulnerable to exploitation who are once again the target.”

Jakub Sobik from the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre, said: “Simply put, the modern slavery measures in recent immigration legislation risk increasing trafficking and modern slavery in the UK.

“If implemented, they would deny potentially thousands of people protection from trafficking and would strengthen the hand of traffickers, as well as the UK’s ability to prosecute traffickers.

“The government should bring back protections for modern slavery survivors as soon as possible not only to align them with international law, but also to enable the UK to more effectively deal with trafficking.”

More than 1,000 migrants have already made the perilous journey across the English Channel this year, which is on top of the 36,816 who came to the UK last year.

The government says it will use anti-terror tactics to “smash” the people smuggling gangs responsible for putting migrants on the boats in France.

But refugee charities said Labour’s bill could end up making the problem worse.

One measure would see asylum seekers who refuse to stop for the French authorities jailed for up to five years.

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “We are very concerned that by creating new offences, many refugees themselves could also be prosecuted, which has already been happening in some cases. This would be a gross miscarriage of justice.”