Tory government proves its obsession with maintaining a hostile environment

04 Jan 2019
Diane Abbott MP, Shadow Home Secretary, responding to the Home Secretary’s comments made at Dover about migrants today, said:

“Yet again this Tory government proves its obsession with maintaining a hostile environment. Suggesting that the British government would deny legitimate asylum claims is not only a disgrace but a breach of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

“Refugees are under no legal obligation to seek asylum in the first country they arrive in. The Home Office’s flawed strategy of focusing on deterrence rather than working with other EU states to establish safe and legal routes, has led directly to the situation in the Channel. But Sajid Javid’s comments today show that the Tories have learned nothing from their past failures.

“Geography should not determine how we handle our legal and moral obligations to some of the most vulnerable people in the world. This is a European refugee crisis and all of Europe should do their fair share to alleviate it.”

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