refugee action blog

We haven’t included Plaid Cymru or SNP here as we only work within England, but the BBC cover all parties.

To find out more, use the BBC’s online tool to compare the parties’ stances on race and immigration issues, under which they include the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Use the drop down menus to explore beyond the ‘big three’.

Labour

Labour deals with asylum and immigration in the ‘crime and immigration’ section of their manifesto. Their approach emphasises the record low number of asylum claims and low cost to the taxpayer of the asylum system. They claim faster decisions are often fairer decisions and they will continue to aim to process all applications within 6 months. They also promise to continue to tackle human trafficking.

Conservative

The Conservatives 2010 manifesto does not mention any proposed changes to the asylum system but the party has recently condemned slow decision-making and increasing backlogs. In the past the Tory-led Centre for Social Justice suggested an asylum system in which applicants are given more leeway to establish a good case and which encourages voluntary returns. In 2005 their manifesto called for all asylum applications to take place outside the country and for the UK to withdraw from the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dems would take the responsibility for the asylum system away from the Home Office and hand it over to an independent agency, while pushing for an EU wide plan to ensure that the responsibility is shared fairly between EU states. They would allow asylum seekers to work, end the detention of children and explore options such as residence restrictions and tagging for adults considered at risk of absconding.

Green Party

The Greens would deal with applications within 3 months and allow asylum seekers to work during this time, ending detention for all but the most exceptional circumstances. They would also allow asylum seekers to be joined by their partner and partner’s family. They would entitle asylum seekers to full welfare benefits, boost reception facilities, housing, language training and legal support, oppose destitution and support the recognition of LGBT people as a social group as defined by the 1951 convention.

UKIP

They would withdraw from the 1951 Convention and replace it with a UK Asylum Act specifying the conditions which decide who should be granted asylum and with a limit on the number of refugees the country would accept.  All asylum seekers will be held in secure and ‘humane’ centres until a decision is made. Decisions won’t be appealable. The party would also end what it calls the ‘doctrine of multiculturalism’ by government and public bodies.

BNP

The BNP would immediately deport 2 million people it claims are here illegally and deport anyone who has committed a crime whose nationality is not British. It would review all recent grants of residence or citizenship and offer financial incentives for those of foreign descent to leave the country. It would automatically reject all asylum seekers who passed through safe countries on their way to Britain.

Hope Not Hate

If you are concerned about BNP or other far-right activity in your area, the Hope Not Hate campaign has a network of local groups who are campaigning against the BNP in their communities.