Luke Pollard MP calls for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers to be protected in new bill
It follows the unveiling of the government's new Illegal Migration Bill.
Luke Pollard MP has called for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers to be protected in the UK government’s new Illegal Migration Bill.
The bill, introduced on Tuesday (7 March), will mean individuals arriving illegally will be detained without bail or judicial review for 28 days.
They will then face being removed and blocked from ever returning. The bill will also determine an annual cap on the number of refugees the UK will resettle.
Pollard, Plymouth’s first openly gay MP and the current Shadow Armed Forces Minister has raised concerns about the bill.
He questioned whether LGBTQ+ asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution will be adequately protected.
Addressing Braverman, Pollard said: “Britain is and should remain a beacon for LGBT rights.”
He then asked the Home Secretary about LGBT asylum seekers who are “fleeing persecution because of their sexuality and who they love and who they are, who don’t come from a country where there is an existing safe route.”
“Will they be deported back to the country where they are being abused?” he questioned.
“Or will they be deported to Rwanda where the FCO’s travel advice says ‘LGBT individuals experience discrimination and abuse, including from local authorities’?”
Pollard asked for reassurance that the government wouldn’t be “turning our back on LGBT asylum seekers.”
“The new Tory plan to attack migrants is not only unworkable, it’s wrong”
Braverman responded that “the fundamental objective of this legislation is to stop people leaving safe countries to come to the United Kingdom and claim asylum.”
“If people are coming here from a safe country, they really shouldn’t be claiming asylum in the first place.”
However, she failed to address Pollard’s specific concerns over LGBT asylum seekers.
Pollard later tweeted Braverman “couldn’t answer” his question “because she is slamming the door on LGBT asylum seekers.
“The new Tory plan to attack migrants is not only unworkable, it’s wrong and won’t actually stop small boats.”