Nick right to address but wrong conclusions on immigration

Currently to access the Lib Dems website you have to go through an image of our manifesto from 2010 to highlight our fairer tax manifesto pledge which has been announced in this week's budget. Maybe we should make Lib Dems go through a copy of the preamble to the party's constitution instead.

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the state is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals, to contribute fully to their communities and to take part in the decisions which affect their lives.

Why you may ask do I think that? The reason is in the words that Nick Clegg uttered today on the subject of immigration.

Far a start we aim to safeguard a free, fair and open society. Yet we appear to want to put up  barriers for others to enter that society, unless they afford a £1000 bond. Which to me suggests that we are enslaving future immigrants to poverty.

He also seems to suggest that they should know English to a level that they can understand all the legal documents that their moving here would lead them to face. Yet all of us who have any involvement in politics know that often our friends, who were born and bred here and speak English as a native tongue will often come to us with queries about some complex form and often we too are flummoxed by the legalese. So when he asks Mark Harper to look into whether we should ask immigrants to pay for translation services, is he not enslaving those who cannot afford it into ignorance.

You see by acknowledging that "many migrants...have contributed to our country" while being immensely proud of this nation's wonderful diversity and openness" you need to walk the walk. Somehow what Nick is saying just isn't it. He appears to be appeasing a certain part of the electorate that do not hold Liberal Values instead of coming up with a truly liberal solution to the problem. While Lib Dems would be remiss not to acknowledge these concerns from some we should the ones coming up with Liberal solutions that reflect the benefits that we in the UK gain from having migrants and being able to emigrate ourselves when we desire to do so.

As he says part of the problem of the legacy of both the Major and then Labour Governments is a lack of management of the issue, and keeping monitoring the numbers. Not knowing who is in the country and has exceeded their right to stay is a concern that needs to be a addressed. As Lib Dems we did believe that one way to deal with that was to pragmatically allow those who have spent over a decade contributing to our society the right to remain. It wasn't some automatic reward,it was for those who spoke English, had a clean record and wanted to stay here. It was an historic promise and not something that those coming after 2010 were going to be able to achieve, it was a plan to help deal with the mess.

But what about the point-based system that would allow immigrants to work where they were needed. There was no mention of those regionally based worked having to pay a bond in case they strayed to another region, but we expected to be able to keep a track on them better with the systems back in place. It was a system that we promised in our manifesto could deal with the regional variations in needs for workers while at the same time allowing those that we needed to fill skill gaps to come into our country to fill those voids. It was liberal, it was fair and it didn't require a financial barrier to entry, if you were employable you could have the right to come and fill one of those gaps.

Sped Up Deportation Also a Moral Outrage

There are two types of foreigners in the UK system economic migrants and asylum seekers. Let's make that clear. The latter of those types are the most vulnerable.

Therefore it is with outrage that I see that there is a leaked document that is looking at the voluntary right to leave or deportation at some point in the following 2 months of families seeking asylum. The no time being given element brings to mind the harrowing images from France earlier this week.

When I was campaigning in the general election I was campaigning for treating asylum seekers as human beings. Not looking up their children behind bars, allowing them to seek employment while their cases were heard. These are people that for whatever reason have fled their country to seek refuge. Yes, our immigration services then have to vet them to ensure that their is a genuine need and a right to stay. Although under Labour many of the most needy cases were not treated with egality.

I'd like to think we live in a liberal state that looks out for the most needy. Treating asylum seekers and their families as little more than unwanted cargo is not the way to go about thinks.

The Liberal Democrats campaigned to end child detention, not by being Iranian about it* and simply getting rid of anyone in that category. There have to be better alternatives that allow the process to run its full and fair course, which also does away with the need to detain children.

I think the UK Border Agency better think it out again.

* The Iranian way to ensure there are no gays in the country is the kill any they find.

Eight Days to Take Action on Dungavel Child Detainees #LibConWin

A week may be a long time in politics but surely eight days into an new Government which only say for the first time yesterday and hasn't even been sworn in yet must be pretty instantaneous.

Instead of being held behind the prison fencing at Dungavel but moved to Yarls Wood, Bedfordshire with specialist family and child facilities and support services as an interim measure before totally removing from detention only eight days into a new government. As Damian Green the immigration minister said:

"This is something which many groups in Scotland have been calling for, and we are now delivering this positive outcome.

"We are committed to ending the detention of all children for immigration purposes. I hope that we can have plans agreed within the next few months."

You would have thought this might have been met as being a fast moving step to improve things before getting right of the draconian measure altogether. Not so the SNP who are still attempting to point score rather than offering alternatives locally and aiding the effort as I asked yesterday. Indeed Christine McKelvie is already saying:

"The Lib Dems claims on asylum and detention have been badly exposed and the Conservative’s chaotic Home Office appears once again to be unfit for purpose."

Hang on we're only allowed eight days to announce, come up with a solution and act upon it? Does that seem fair?

Nobody has said it is the final solution, merely that it is a better one than is currently available.Anne 'Indygal' McLaughlin MSP is also getting in on the act of jumping the gun and leaping on the condemnation bandwagon:

"By removing children immediately to Yarls Wood they are being taken away from the support networks and services they have built up in Scotland.

"There must be guarantees from the new Government that children are only being detained as an absolute last resort and that no one will lose access to the law, or the ability to challenge the Home Office’s decision as a result of this move."

Look at the statement Anne! Look at the commitment! Look at the time scale. We're are looking at doing away with detention of children within months. As Green also said:

"I have already announced the launch of a comprehensive review of alternatives to child detention, including opening a dialogue with relevant stakeholders, organisations and experts.

"This work has now started, because it is in all our interests, including those children currently in detention, to do it quickly, but to also do it well and safely."

It will be done. It will be done well. It will be done safely for all the children involved.

One does have to ask though if this step has been taken in 8 days, with another step to be taken in months, just what the SNP government have been doing to try and get the children held in detention in Scotland released or into better surroundings that Dungavel in the THREE years that they have been in charge.

Image of the Day

Well here's something I've always dreamed off. Seeing a Liberal Democrat sitting on the Government front bench.

Well as Parliament reconvened earlier and got on with the job of re-elected John Bercow as speaker there was the Deputy Prime Minister, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats sitting behind the dispatch box not over the aisle on the opposition side of the House.

We are truly in a period of new politics.

Unfortunately that message doesn't seem to have stretched north of the border. The SNP are using the news that the promise to get children out of the detention centre hasn't been acted upon yet at Dungavel after just 7 days of the new Government.

Here's an idea Christina McKelvie and the rest of the SNP at Holyrood how about working with us to provide somewhere for them to be housed safely and properly immediately while the review into the alternatives is actually taken.