Wes Streeting not ‘comfortable’ deporting children under Labour’s migrant crackdown
Wes Streeting has suggested he would not feel “comfortable” with the idea of families with children being deported from the UK amid Labour’s latest crackdown on immigration.
The health minister said the “number of forced deportations should be low” as part of controversial asylum reforms announced by Shabana Mahmood earlier this week.
The home secretary launched a series of changes to the asylum system on Monday, including removing families with children who have no right to be in the UK, by force if necessary.
The party’s tough stance, which aims to reduce the number of people entering the UK by irregular means such as small boats, has faced a backlash within the party, including from its Labor colleague Lord Alf Dubs, a Nazi refugee, who accused Ms Mahmood of using “children as weapons”.
Asked about the possibility of removals of families with children, Mr Streeting told LBC the number of forced removals “should be low”.
Later, when asked if he was comfortable with the prospect, he added: “Really? Comfortable? No. But is it the right thing to do for the country? Yes.”
The plans will also apply to parents born in the UK who do not have the right to be in the country.
It comes after authorities said the children would have to leave the country with their parents if their refugee status was revoked. Times reported.
A source told the paper this was to ensure there were no “wrong incentives” for refugees to have children in the UK “on the basis that they can stay”.
On Tuesday, Lord Dubs, who fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and arrived in Britain on the Kindertransport, told the BBC’s Today programme: “I find it sad that we have to take such a hard line; what we need is some compassion in our politics and I think some of the measures are going in the wrong direction, they won’t help.”
The refugee campaigner also pointed to the fate of children born in the UK who are integrated into communities from which their parents are scheduled to be displaced, saying: “I think it’s awful to use children as a weapon, as the Home Secretary has done.”
Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Mahmood faced backlash over plans to strengthen the asylum system shortly after their release on Monday.
The package, designed to discourage asylum seekers and make it easier to deport those who do not have the right to be in the country, also includes proposals such as reducing the initial period that refugees can stay in the UK from five years to 30 months.
Sarah Owen, chair of the women and equalities committee, described the policies as “disgusting”, while Walthamstow Labor MP Stella Creasy said the changes were “draconian in terms of performance”.
He added: “It doesn’t have to be this way. There is a better way, based on Labor values, that also ensures control of our borders.”
