Weekly Update – Thursday 14 April 2022

The Prime Minister is a criminal liar

This Week Boris Johnson became the first Prime Minister to have broken the law in office. The Chancellor and many others, as yet unnamed, were also fined for partying while the rest of the country was in lockdown. We know of one fine so far, but more fines are likely to follow and so will more excuses, lies and worthless apologies.

What’s clear is that the Prime Minister and those who support him are trying to gaslight the country into thinking they are wrong to be disgusted by his behaviour. They want us to believe that it doesn’t matter they broke the rules they made. The latest excuse is that the PM was only at the party for 9 minutes. But I know constituents who would have given anything to spend even 1 minute with their loved ones as they lay dying in hospital. They never got to because they followed the rules while the PM and his cronies got drunk in Downing Street.

Not only did the PM break the law, he attempted to cover up his wrongdoing and lied to the nation in doing so. He told Parliament he had been assured that no rules had been broken. We now know he knew that wasn’t the case because he had knowingly broken the rules on multiple occasions himself. Now the PM, Chancellor and other rule-breakers say sorry, but they weren’t sorry before they got caught red-handed.

At a time of international crisis, it is crucial that we maintain the highest standards of democratic accountability domestically. That is why the PM, Chancellor and anybody else in public office who broke the rules must resign with immediate effect. To cling on any longer is a slap in the face to all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

Home Secretary’s plans for camps in Rwanda are abhorrent

The Home Secretary has announced plans to build camps in Rwanda where Refugees who come to the UK seeking safety are to be imprisoned. The plan is immoral and will lead to thousands of innocent people being carted around the world like cattle and imprisoned for the ‘crime’ of fleeing war, violence and other forms of persecution.

The Government says this is necessary to deter people smugglers and punish ‘illegal’ asylum seekers. The only problem with this reasoning is that there is no evidence that this cruel treatment of refugees deters people smugglers and there is no such thing as an ‘illegal asylum seeker’ under international law.

Everybody has a right to claim asylum on account of their humanity and the method they use to make that claim is irrelevant. Whether they are lucky enough to make it through the few routes the Government recognises as ‘legitimate’ or find themselves having to put their lives in the hands of people smugglers, they have a right to have their claim heard fairly and should not be persecuted while in the process of having that claim heard.

Australia is one of the few other developed countries to have ‘off-shore camps’ and the policy has been an unmitigated disaster. The cruelty experienced by those in the off-shore camps has led to numerous refugees, including children, setting themselves alight. This policy is designed to be as cruel as possible to refugees with the hope that many will simply stop claiming asylum in the UK. But anybody who understands the driving factors behind migration – whether it’s family reunion or fleeing war – knows that the use of cruelty to try and deter refugees isn’t only inhumane and beneath us as a country, it won’t work.

The Government must stop punishing children

As the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) I welcome today’s recommendations from the Commons Work and Pensions Committee that calls on the Government to significantly reduce the burden on those subject to NRPF.  Currently, many people settling legally in the UK are told they have no recourse to public funds for as long as 10 years. This means they are unable to access benefits and many other crucial resources that many of us rely on.

But having heard evidence from those impacted and other experts, the Work & Pensions Select Committee has said that parents classed as NRPF should be able to receive Child Benefits and free childcare. This is a welcome recommendation. The Government currently pushes thousands of children into poverty as a result of their parent’s immigration status. NRPF leaves many families destitute and reliant on food banks to survive. As a policy it should be lifted entirely, but while we wait for a government willing to do that the very least that could be done is to lift thousands of children out of poverty by allowing NRPF parents access to Child Benefits.

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Thank you for taking the time to read my latest update, if you have any issues that you would like to raise directly with me then please do email  edmontonconstituency@parliament.uk. I’m always happy to help whenever possible.

Kind regards,

Kate Osamor MP