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EUROPEAN ASYLUM PROPOSALS ATTACKED
Thursday 22nd January 2004
European Union Ministers are meeting in Dublin today to discuss a common asylum and immigration policy for the European Union.
Timothy Kirkhope MEP, Conservative Spokesman on Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament, said:
"Any attempt by the EU to usurp the UN Convention of 1951 should be resisted. The UN Convention is approved by countries all over the world - not just in Europe - as a humane basis for asylum.
Britain must resist any new 'European' criteria that would confuse the issue and become a political football for individual priorities. It is also vital that asylum procedures remain under the control of Nation States and their legal systems.
Britain's asylum and immigration system is in chaos. Since 1997, the Government has revoked bilateral agreements and removed all outward checks. We check people in but we have stopped checking people out. As a result, nobody knows whether people leave the country when they are required to, or whether they stay on.
Adopting a common asylum and immigration policy would add to this confusion and divert attention from the real problem: British asylum policy."
