My Lords, I wish to speak to Amendment 48 in particular. I say at the outset that I am grateful to the Minister for the trouble she has taken to give me a chance to talk to her and her officials about the clause and the Government’s view of it. Although I do not think that either of us was persuaded by the other as a result of our conversation, nevertheless I am grateful for the trouble she went to.
I want to just say a word or two about the background. Until we left the EU we had the benefit of the Dublin treaty, particularly Dublin III. To summarise, the benefit of that was that a refugee child or a child claiming refugee status could seek to join a relative living in this country. For example, a Syrian boy in France could apply to join an uncle in Birmingham or Manchester. That worked fairly well. The figures show that it was quite successful and it was an important part of reuniting families.
When we were concerned that Brexit would put an end to all this because the Dublin treaty would no longer apply, this House passed an amendment to the 2017 legislation so that the Government would negotiate to continue the family reunion provision after we left the EU. That was passed by this House on a vote, it was eventually accepted by the Government in the Commons and it became the law of the land. Then came the 2019 legislation and the Government took the provision out again, for reasons we never understood. Many of us were alarmed that something that had been passed could just be reversed, as it were, by other legislation.
Partly to conciliate me, I think, the Minister arranged a meeting. I was quite surprised that there were three Government Ministers and seven officials at the meeting, and me: it was sort of 10 to one. The effort was made to persuade me that everything would be all right under the then Immigration Rules. The then Immigration Minister was Brandon Lewis. He looked me in the eye and said, “Don’t you trust me?” I found this quite difficult. I said, first, “There is no guarantee you will stay in your job for very long.” Indeed, within weeks he was promoted to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Secondly, I said, “I may trust you personally but I don’t trust the Government.” I am afraid that is still my position on this legislation.
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What we have is a less than satisfactory provision for family reunion under the Immigration Rules as they now stand. All the evidence is that it is not working. For example, according to Safe Passage, with which I work very closely, it is clear that since the Dublin III arrangements ceased very few children have managed to join their families here. Although the amendment goes a bit wider than children, essentially the main thrust of it is to enable children to join relatives.
Under the Dublin treaty provisions, 90% of these applications were accepted and in 2020 Safe Passage had 134 successful cases. Since the end of Dublin III and the provision being taken out of the 2019 legislation, Safe Passage has had 24 family reunion cases, and decisions from the Home Office on nine of those. Of those nine, seven were refusals: three from Greece, three from France and one from Belgium. Two cases were accepted, both from Greece.
We have seen a dramatic decline in the ability of young people on the continent to join their relatives here on the basis of refugee status. It has been a very difficult situation and, much as I wish to be brief, I want to give one or two examples. There have been no successful applications from France. I will briefly quote some of the reasons that have been given. The Home Office has argued that a child being alone in France or Greece is not a “serious and compelling circumstance” to warrant entry clearance to the UK. Safe Passage believes that a child being unaccompanied and separated from family should surely be a serious and compelling circumstance.
In the case of one unaccompanied child, the Home Office responded:
“You currently live in a shelter for unaccompanied Minors with psychological support. I note you have provided no evidence why this arrangement cannot continue or any serious and compelling considerations in your case.”
You have to stay there. There is no future; you cannot join your family.
I have one or two more to quote before I finish. In another instance, the Home Office said:
“From the evidence provided it is noted that you are currently receiving ongoing care”
in a shelter for unaccompanied children
“and no evidence has been provided to suggest this care arrangement can no longer continue … you have evidenced no serious or compelling circumstances to show that your life cannot continue how it is now.”
What are we saying? We are saying that a child should stay in some sort of institution and cannot join their family member in this country. For heaven’s sake, what is all this about?
In another instance, the Home Office said:
“Whilst we sympathise with people in difficult situations, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the very large numbers of people overseas who might like to come here”—
ha, ha—
“those who need international protection”—
now we hear it again—
“should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach—that is the fastest route to safety.”
I have met young people in Calais and in Greece who desperately want to join their family, often siblings, here. If they cannot do that, they do what any of us would do in that situation: they find another way of getting here to join their family. If the choice was between staying in some hostel, as the Home Office refers to; staying in the conditions in the camp in Moria, on Lesbos—it burnt down, but the situation there is still similar; sleeping under the trees and tarpaulins near Calais; or finding another way of getting to this country to join your siblings, we would do it. They will do it. It is no wonder.
When we still had the Dublin III arrangement, I went to Calais, and in the Jungle talked to people. They said, “When it gets dark we’ll try to hop on to the back of a lorry on the motorway nearby.” I said, “We are working very hard to find you a safe and legal way, so don’t do that dangerous thing.” But some of them did, because the safe and legal way did not arrive.
I have many more examples, but I shall not take up more time. But there is a clear case for family reunion, and if as a country we cannot support family reunion on the basis in which I have described it—on the basis described in this amendment—then we are a much less worthy country than I thought we were.
Lastly, in discussions on previous amendments there was much talk about public opinion. I believe that the British public are essentially humanitarian, and if they are given these arguments they will say, “Yes, we support that. We support family reunion, particularly for these children. Let’s go for it—we don’t agree with the Government.” Public opinion is on our side, so let us make sure that the Government listen to that public opinion.