Labour and the Tories at it again

Written by Paul Elgood and published in GScene on Tue 1st Mar 2005

I wrote in last month's GScene's on ID Cards that Labour and the Tories are so close in policy and rhetoric on the issue that it has been left to the Liberal Democrats to challenge the lack of logic and compassion in their policies. The same is true with the immigration and aslyum debate.

What annoys me in this debate is how language is targeted entirely at the readership of 'The Daily Mail', in a populist and unprincipled grab for the votes of middle England. They'll either use words such as 'genuine', to cover their bigoted tracks or if they don't care about their exposing their illiberal credentials they try to scare monger us into believing that the 'floodgates' are open.

It wasn't so long ago - indeed it still does exist from certain quarters - that a similar kind of language and illiberal approach was used against the LGBT community.

But lets get this question in proportion. On both asylum and immigration there are many myths which exist. As Chair of the City Council's Equalities Forum I recently asked for a detailed presentation to members by the Refugee Forum on asylum seekers. If we believe what we read in tabloid newspapers or what is touted around by some opportunist politicians we would think 'little' Britain is being 'over-run' or 'swamped' by asylum seekers. The presentation proved how the reality does not match this scare-mongering language. Out of a population of 250,000 or so, Brighton and Hove has less than 200 people seeking aslyum at any one time and many come from parts of the world where there can be little dispute that the person's fears of persecution are justified. Hardly a crisis and we're hardly being over-run.

The weakness of the UK asylum system is to do with lack of efficient processing. The Home Office is often slow at making decisions and loses track of people, and makes many bad decisions which result in time-consuming appeals. Of those whose cases are rejected by Home Office decision-makers, 20% are overturned on appeal, indicating a high error rate in decisions. Yet instead of putting their own house in order the Government have pursued a policy of making it more difficult for people to put their claim. The Lib Dems would take responsibility for asylum away from the Home Office and give it to an independent agency, guaranteeing-decision making which is free from political considerations.

We see the separate issue of immigration as an opportunity, not a threat. Immigrants provide skills that the UK cannot afford to do without. Legal migrants make up only 8% of the population, but generate 10% of our GDP. We would increase openness by commissioning an independent assessment of the level of need for migrant workers every year, by sector of industry.

Our open and compassionate approach compares starkly to those of the Tory and Labour parties.

Paul Elgood is the Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hove & Portslade. He can be contacted on 291162 or via email at paul.elgood@brighton-hove.gov.uk. His website is at www.brighton-hovelibdems.org.uk.