Refugees (Family Reunion) (No.2) Bill

Afzal Khan Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 16th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

Let me begin by thanking the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Angus Brendan MacNeil) for introducing the Bill and thanking all the other Members who support it.

I want to put on record my thanks to Oxfam, the Red Cross, the Refugee Council, UNHCR, Amnesty International and many other charities for their campaigning on this issue. This coalition of charities shows the breadth and strength of support for refugee family reunion. This morning, many Members have put forward clear and convincing arguments in support of today’s Bill. I will use my time, which will be brief because I want to ensure that we have a vote, to outline why the Bill appeals to Labour values of fairness, respecting human rights and protecting the vulnerable in our society, and why we will therefore be supporting it.

The Labour party believes in respect for human rights, which are at the centre of our approach to foreign policy, development and the treatment of migrants and refugees on our soil. That includes the right to family life. At the moment, the definition of who is considered “close family” for the purposes of family reunion is narrow. It includes the spouse or partner of an adult refugee, and their dependent children under the age of 18. It does not include young siblings, elderly parents or older dependent children.

[Alex Sobel (Leeds North West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that allowing families to sponsor their immediate family would be an easy change to implement? It would affect a small number of child refugees, but it would have a transformational impact on how we treat them in this country.

[Afzal Khan]

I agree with my hon. Friend and will address that issue later.

We have a perverse situation where unaccompanied children are not allowed to bring their close family members to join them in the same way an adult can. These are already some of the most vulnerable children in our society. They face language and cultural barriers, on top of the trauma of being forced to flee war and violence. We are one of the only countries in Europe that further denies them the right to reunite with their families. Evidence shows that refugees who are not permitted to be joined by close relatives struggle to integrate. It is clear that so long as there are push factors of war, violence and persecution, people will be forced to flee their homes. Safe and legal routes to family reunion disrupt the work of smugglers and people traffickers.

The Opposition welcome some recent Government achievements. The Sandhurst treaty committed to speeding up the process for refugees in France to join family members in the UK. We welcome investment in the processing of Dublin cases and agree that we need to look at the whole issue of routes taken by refugees.

On a personal level, I believe that the Minister takes seriously her obligations to refugees and wants to fulfil Britain’s commitment to vulnerable children in particular. However, fulfilling our existing commitments is not enough. The Government have not yet promised that that agreement will continue after Brexit or that they will change the UK’s immigration rules to align them with the current Dublin III provisions. In a recent Westminster Hall debate, the Minister said:

“I regard it to be an absolute priority to take the 480 young people we have committed to.”—[Official Report, 22 February 2018; Vol. 636, c. 187WH.]

She was referring to the Dubs scheme, but 480 young people is well below the original intention of the Dubs amendment, which was to resettle 3,000 young people, and significantly fewer than the 10,000 refugees a year that the UN has called on Britain to take. The refugee crisis is a large and complex challenge. Reforming the UK’s family reunion rules would be a simple and direct way to help refugees in the UK and to deter others from making the dangerous journey here.

Whatever immigration system we have, it should be managed fairly. At the moment, our immigration rules are complex and enforced inconsistently. The Red Cross has found that

“refugee family reunion is not a straightforward immigration matter, and that…only qualified legal advisers can deal with…the significant and diverse complexities”

of the refugee family reunion process.

In his article for LabourList yesterday, the shadow Justice Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon), expressed a sentiment that I totally agree with:

“When people can’t afford to defend their rights—often won by social justice campaigners over decades—then they are not worth the paper written on.”

That is the case at present with family reunion.

Since 2012, immigration has been outside the scope of legal aid in England and Wales, but not in Scotland or Northern Ireland. It is only fair that applicants, who are navigating the system up against the bureaucracy and resources of the Home Office, should have access to legal aid. The Government are currently undertaking a review of legal aid provision. I am worried that refugee family reunion will be such a small part of that review that the urgent need in this area could easily be overlooked. Labour’s own Bach review of legal aid provision recommended that areas of family and immigration law—specifically family reunion—should also be brought back in scope. Labour supports the Bill because it would reintroduce legal aid for refugee family reunion cases.

We want to live in a society that is fair and integrated and respects human rights. We have seen some progress on child refugees, but there is clearly more to be done. Reforming the refugee family reunion rules would be a simple but important step towards addressing the anomalies in our refugee system. It would affect a small number of people, but it would transform their lives.

The Bill is based on liberal values of fairness, human rights and the protection of the most vulnerable. Labour Members will support its Second Reading, and I hope that all other Members will as well.