Tories' anti-migrant rush

Submitted by AWL on 19 May, 2020 - 7:11
Labour Campaign for Free Movement

The Tories are trying to rush through their new Immigration Bill under the cover of the pandemic.

The “second reading” in Parliament was announced at a few days’ notice as Monday 18 May. The Labour Campaign for Free Movement is calling on the Labour leadership and MPs to oppose the Tories’ xenophobia by standing up for the alternative: solidarity, equality and free movement for all.

It asks supporters to:

• sign the statement here calling on Labour to oppose the Bill
• tweet a quick (less than 2 minutes) video of yourself talking about why you oppose the Immigration Bill, with the hashtag #KillTheImmigrationBill
• and spread the word!

The Bill aims to end free movement with the EU by extending to EU migrants the brutal anti-migrant regime that is already imposed on non-EU migrants, while also changing that regime in new ways.

It classes migrants earning less than a certain salary threshold as “unskilled” and offers no general route for them to enter the country. They will be allowed in only as family dependents of “skilled” migrants; or on precarious, hyper-exploitative, short-term, industry-specific “guest worker” schemes.

Otherwise they will be shut out entirely, pushing more people towards dangerous routes, putting them at the mercy of unscrupulous bosses and smugglers.

The Bill spells out little detail, and instead would grant sweeping “Henry VIII” powers to the Home Secretary to make up immigration rules with limited oversight or accountability to Parliament.

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