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Contentious Immigration Bill goes to second reading
The controversial Immigration Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons on 13 October. The bill, which is opposed by Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP, includes proposals to increase the powers of immigration officials to detain individuals, a requirement for landlords to carry out checks on new tenants and the withdrawal of benefits from asylum-seekers whose claims have been rejected.
The second reading is the first time that a bill is debated in the House of Commons and is usually followed by the committee stage, during which it is scrutinised in more detail. The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association is particularly concerned at proposals to extend powers so that people appealing immigration (not asylum) cases, could be removed from the country before the appeal was decided, if to do so would not breach human rights or rights under European Union law.
According to ILPA legal director Alison Harvey: ‘The bill makes demands that the Home Office is not equipped or able to meet and gives it powers that it cannot be relied upon to exercise properly.’ She believes it ‘is predicated upon the false assumption that the Home Office gets it right, not most of the time, but all of the time.’ She argues if the bill in its present form became law, it would deny many people with a right to be in the country a fair hearing.