Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers Debate
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Scott Benton
Main Page: Scott Benton (Independent - Blackpool South)Department Debates - View all Scott Benton's debates with the Home Office
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers
Scott Benton Excerpts(4 years, 5 months ago)
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Chris Philp
As the hon. Gentleman will understand, whenever a risk is identified, it is rapidly shared between all relevant organisations, including those that he listed. He mentioned providing sanctuary. Of course, many asylum seekers who reach here have travelled through safe countries first, particularly France, and it is appropriate for people seeking asylum to do so in the first safe country they get to.
Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)
I associate myself with your comments earlier, Mr Speaker, and pass on my best wishes to those who have been sadly affected.
Does my hon. Friend agree that this appalling attack underlines the importance of reforming our asylum policy so that we can stop it being abused with false claims and ensure that those who pose a significant threat to our way of life have their claims rejected and are swiftly deported?
Chris Philp
My hon. Friend is right. The system is too slow. It is too slow to grant meritorious claims, but it is also, I am afraid to say, open to abuse with repeated unmeritorious appeals, which often drag the process out over many years. Reform is needed along the lines that he describes and it is something on which we are working.