What the politicians have promised and what campaigners want

Labour

  • More detention of asylum seekers whose claims have failed.
  • Electronic tagging of those the government says are at risk of
    going missing.
  • More removals of asylum seekers whose claims have failed.
  • For the number of asylum seekers removed after their claims
    have failed to exceed the number of new claims that fail by the end
    of 2005.

Conservative

  • 24-hour surveillance at ports.
  • Withdrawal from the 1951 Geneva Convention.
  • Take a fixed number of refugees from the United Nations Refugee
    Agency.
  • Process asylum applications from outside Britain.
  • Parliament to establish a fixed quota of the number of asylum
    seekers whom the UK will accept.
  • Establishment of British border control police whose sole job
    it is to secure Britain’s borders.

Liberal Democrats

  • Transfer responsibility for assessing asylum claims from the
    Home Office to a dedicated agency.
  • Work within the European Union to develop common standards to
    ensure that all EU countries take their fair share of
    refugees.
  • Allow asylum seekers to work.

Coalition of children’s charities including The
Children’s Society, NSPCC and NCH

  • Put an end to detaining asylum seeker children.
  • Remove the current reservation to the UN Convention on the
    Rights of the Child in relation to asylum seeker children. The
    government has entered into a wide-ranging reservation to this on
    the treatment of this group.
  • Ensure that all homeless families, including refugees, will not
    be housed in temporary accommodation other than in a short-term
    emergency.
  • Ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are appointed
    an independent guardian to support them.
  • Repeal measures that can make asylum seeker parents whose
    claims have failed destitute and result in their children being
    taken into care.

The Refugee Council

  • Urges all parties to tackle misconceptions about asylum seekers
    and highlight the contribution to the economy and public services
    made by refugees to Britain.

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