The Conservatives have sparked a fresh migration row on GB News after unveiling their proposal for a new Deportation Bill.The proposed legislation includes mandatory age verification for migrants and automatic deportation for all foreign criminals - not just those sentenced to more than a year in prison.FULL STORY HERE.
00:00Interesting stuff. Well, joining us to discuss this is the immigration lawyer, Harjap Singh Bangal.
00:05Harjap, thanks for joining us. Is this possible or would this sort of legislation again be challenged in the courts?
00:15Yeah, I think this would be challenged. The beauty of being in opposition is you can promise whatever you want without really being accountable for it.
00:22And we've seen that time and time again with governments. The fact is that all of this, if the Conservatives did have the political will, could have been done.
00:32And we know it could have been done because towards the general election, as it was coming, they did introduce measures that did reduce immigration.
00:39And now, including the stopping of dependent visas for care workers, the stopping of dependents for students.
00:45Let's not forget that those numbers that have come down, they were actually introduced by the Conservative government just before the general election, showing that this could have been done in 13 years.
00:56But they didn't. Yeah, well, that's not the point here, though, whether the Conservatives could have done it.
01:00They could have done a lot of things. They could have completely closed the borders and said we're going to have zero immigration.
01:05They could have done. It's all hypotheticals. But this could actually, if this was implemented, it could actually make a difference, couldn't it?
01:11They say they want to disapply the Human Rights Act from all immigration-related matters.
01:16And they would say that would stop foreign nationals exploiting the courts.
01:20Of course, we've seen, you know, criminals and people who shouldn't be here, who've arrived illegally, et cetera, impossible to remove people because of human rights legislation, the ECHR, et cetera.
01:29So they say they'd disapply the Human Rights Act, and that would help that.
01:34Extending the waiting period for indefinite leave to remain from five to ten years.
01:37I mean, all of this stuff would make a difference.
01:40Well, if someone's going to stay here and not go back, it doesn't matter whether they have to stay here five years or ten years.
01:46The fact is they're not going to change the criteria of it.
01:49What they're saying is for British citizens to bring their spouses over, they're going to make it harder.
01:54They're not the ones who actually don't deserve to be here or don't have a right to be here.
01:59What they're going to do to stop the small boats, this is the thorn in the side of the Conservative government and the Labour government.
02:05Now, even when Labour came into power, they had three issues to deal with.
02:09One was to get the number of visas granted down, which are extremely high under the Conservatives, which they've done.
02:14Two is to have the number of people being sent back go up, which has been achieved as well.
02:19That's gone up by 16 odd percent, including foreign offenders.
02:23Third is to stop small boats.
02:24Now, this is the thorn in the side.
02:26The Conservatives' policies don't deal with how they're going to stop the small boats.
02:29And we saw they tried everything in their power, including the Rwanda plan, much criticised Rwanda plan, which didn't work and cost us a lot of money in relation to that.
02:39And it didn't happen.
02:40It didn't happen.
02:41It did not succeed in what it wanted to do.
02:46How many people were sent to Rwanda?
02:48How did it work?
02:49And what's the cost of that per person?
02:51Of course, those mandatory flights never took off.
02:53But, Harjap, perhaps one of the reasons why is because when the Conservatives thought up this idea, they were halfway through a parliamentary term, meaning they couldn't pass this by ramroading it through the Lords.
03:06They had to get the consent of the House of Lords, where the Conservative Party does not and has not held a majority for decades.
03:13The difference with introducing a policy at a general election is that you can use something called the Salisbury-Addison Convention, overriding the wishes of the House of Lords, providing that your policy is in a party manifesto.
03:27Now, this sort of policy would be the first time that any such policy was in a party manifesto and therefore could get over that institutional hurdle that scuppered Conservative attempts during the second half of the last Parliament.
03:41All of this is, obviously, if the Conservatives get into power, if they get the numbers to run it for a majority.
03:49Now, they couldn't even do this when they did have a majority.
03:52And look at last week's...
03:53Because it wasn't in their manifesto.
03:55It doesn't look as if they're going to get near power.
03:58Harjap, Harjap, this isn't the point of a conversation.
04:01We wanted to talk to you about whether these steps, if they were implemented, would have an impact on what they're trying to do.
04:08Rather than saying, oh, well, the Conservatives won't be in power, we know...
04:10I don't think they're going to have...
04:11I've told you, I don't think they're going to have an impact.
04:14Because how are you going to stop the small boats?
04:17What in this act is going to stop small boats and people smuggling gangs?
04:21This has nothing to do with the gangs.
04:23You're not...
04:24Where is the sentence saying we're going to catch the gangs and give them life?
04:29Well, this bill is about all sorts, not just the boats.
04:32But Harjap, really appreciate your input.
04:34Thank you very much.
04:35Harjap, they've got one ear.
04:36Harjap Singh, Bengal, thank you very much.
04:38We have to leave it there, immigration lawyer, there.
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