Last week in Parliament a number of debates and decisions took place and it was interesting to see how some of our local MPs and indeed others responded to them. The completion of the Nationality and Borders Bill was very disturbing because of the appalling decision to send people who are seeking Asylum in our Nation to be placed onto planes to travel 4,000 miles away to Rwanda. If they are then approved to remain in principle into our Nation, they will in fact be obliged to remain in Rwanda permanently which is very disturbing. In addition to that, there have been cases raised by some MPs that people who have sought Asylum in our Nation previously are waiting far too long for a decision. Very disturbingly these cases did not get responded to by the Government when they were being challenged in the last few days. There was sadly a support from most of the Conservative MPs to approve the Rwanda idea within the Bill. Sadly, I have only read from two Sussex MPs who have raised the theme of Rwanda in Parliament since the Government set this out in the last two weeks. In the past several others have referred to Rwanda on other themes but only Caroline Lucas and Sally-Ann Hart have spoken about it since Priti Patel proposed that Rwanda would be the location that her government would use. Thankfully the two Labour MPs in Sussex along with Caroline did vote against that theme and interestingly Jeremy Quin in Horsham did on at least one of the votes, but given he is a Minister perhaps he was not available to vote?

The response from Caroline was a question to the Government asking for where the funding would come from to move the people to Rwanda and would they make a statement but sadly that was ignored. The comment from Sally-Ann Hart took place in a debate and her question was very significant, yet sadly she also did not get a meaningful response. Her question included the following words

“The question whether asylum seekers are able to undertake work after six months was raised in March…., Will he confirm that the measures in the Bill, together with the UK and Rwanda economic development partnership, will mean that there should be no asylum seekers still in a state of limbo, waiting for their asylum status to be determined, after six months”

It is always very encouraging when people within the Conservative Party appear to want the best for Asylum Seekers. It was very disappointing when the Government refused to respond positively to the Church of England leaders and indeed many of us in society who want an effective way forward for people seeking Asylum in our Nation. We are very angry about the idea of them being transferred so far away for assessment and for them to be obliged to remain.

Another theme that emerged recently was an appalling response from Nadine Dorries who is seeking for the privatisation of Channel 4. According to other sources the Government  is pressing on the sale of the channel, despite 96 per cent of respondents to a government consultation stating they were opposed to the plans. On Wednesday it was encouraging that Peter Bottomley raised the comment

“The Minister may or may not have been convinced by the words that she read out, but I do not think that they convinced the House. Channel 4 is in the best state that it has been in creatively or financially for decades.”

Let us hope that the responses from a significant number of people outside of Parliament and from the high profile Peter Bottomley will get the Government to reconsider their proposal. The plan to privatise Channel 4, particularly as Nadine Dorries clearly does not understand its situation based on how she responded to a question from members of her own Political party is a bad decision. As it happened at the same time that Peter was speaking that day, an Edinburgh MP, Christine Jardine raised another theme. She spoke to the Deputy Speaker whose response did not provide a meaningful response. However Christine’s call was very significant.

“During Prime Minister’s questions today, the Prime Minister repeated his claim that there are more people in employment now than there were when the pandemic began. However, the chair of the UK Statistics Authority wrote to the Prime Minister when he made that assertion previously in February, telling him that it was misleading.”

Sadly, far too often this Government and indeed the Conservative Party let Johnson to act as if truth and his dishonesty can be ignored. Equally they are making dishonest claims about the vulnerable people who have been seeking security and protection from our Nation through Asylum which badly reflects our Nations credibility.