Peer who fled Nazis as child vows to fight on against cruel Tory migration bill

12 July 2023 , 10:02

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Lord Dubs has called on MPs to think again after a string of proposed amendments were voted down (Image: Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)

A Labour peer who fled the Nazis as a child will launch a last-ditch attempt to stop the Government deporting unaccompanied children who seek refuge.

Lord Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK when he was just six, branded Suella Braverman's controversial Illegal Migration Bill "hostile" to asylum seekers and said peers would continue pushing to improve it.

Last night the Home Secretary's proposals survived a number of rebellions as critics tried to make changes to the draconian legislation, which the Government is desperate to get on the statute books quickly.

Among the amendments voted down by Tories was one by Lord Dubs calling for unaccompanied children to be excluded from new rules denying them leave to remain in the UK. But he said he will try to try force it back to MPs when the bill is discussed in the Lords later today.

Lord Dubs told the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 that ministers should expect a fresh battle when the Bill goes back to the Lords. He said: "This is a very serious issue. What we're seeking to do is to make a bad bill less bad.

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Suella Braverman's Illegal Migration survived a series of rebellions (PA)

"It's a hostile bill to asylum seekers, it's a hostile bill to human rights, we're trying to just inject an element of human rights into the way we handle very vulnerable people who are fleeing for safety."

He continued: "All we want to do is say you haven't thought about it very hard, please will you have another think about these issues, they're fundamental to human rights in this country."

The Labour peer, born in Prague, was one of hundreds of children rescued by British stockbroker Nicholas Winton on the famous Kindertransport - which removed youngsters from Hitler's genocidal Third Reich.

He said the asylum system is "broken down" and said the Government should be seeking stronger agreements with other nations including France.

Ministers face calls to make further changes to their sweeping asylum reforms, after senior Tory MPs joined a small backbench rebellion amid a parliamentary tussle over the Illegal Migration Bill.

Senior Tories used Tuesday's debate to call for further reforms, as MPs spent more than three-and-a-half hours holding 18 votes in the Commons that saw several amendments made by the House of Lords overturned.

The Illegal Migration Bill was mauled by peers, who inflicted 20 defeats on the Government and demanded a raft of revisions.

The Home Office offered several concessions at the start of the week, including on time limits for the detention of children and pregnant women as well as removing a clause so the law, if enacted, will no longer apply retrospectively from when it was first announced in March.

The Government overturned a number of amendments last night, but faced criticism from its own benches.

Former prime minister Theresa May was among 16 Conservative MPs who voted against the Government amid concerns about modern slavery provisions in the Bill.

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Mrs May told the Commons: "I know that ministers have said this Bill will enable more perpetrators to be stopped, but on modern slavery I genuinely believe it will do the opposite.

"It will enable more slave drivers to operate and make money out of human misery. It will consign more people to slavery. No doubt about it, I think if Lords amendment 56 is overthrown that will be the impact."

MPs voted 285 to 243 to reject the amendment, which sought to retain protections for victims of modern slavery who have been exploited in the UK, and prevent their removal.

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Dave Burke