Clause 7 - Failed asylum seekers: withdrawal of support
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
10:15 am
Mr Edward Garnier (Harborough, Conservative)
I think that I have made my short point on that subject, and I hope that we will have a longer opportunity to deal with that problem when we examine clause 10. My hon. Friend the Member for Woking was right. Clause 10(7), and especially new section 108A(2)(e) within it, provides fertile ground for a debate, which he may enjoy participating in.
There is something not quite right with a country that allows an unelected person to make a decision that has a fundamental effect on someone's life, without allowing anyone else to review it. Such final decisions are unattractive. We want to ensure that the asylum system properly makes a distinction between those who ought and those who ought not to be here. Those who should not be here should not have recourse to public funds and should be removed. I see that there is a problem that public moneys will be spent while the decision is being made and implemented, but as soon as it is decided that someone should not be here, their speediest removal should be provided for.
The problem under clause 7 arises because a decision made on the asylum seeker's wrongness in being here can take many months to be implemented. Such people then hang around for months in receipt of benefit. I am beginning to waffle, so I shall try to be brief. The problem arises through being incompetent in removing those who have failed the test on asylum, and we should look more at that end, rather than the benefits end, of the telescope. If the Government could
get that right, we would not have to deal with the problems related to the withdrawal of support thrown up by clause 7.
As I said, it is wrong to allow a civil servant to make a decision that is unchallengeable. However, it is equally wrong that a Government should permit a system to continue that allows those who have been denied the right to remain in this country to remain, whether or not they are in receipt of benefits.