The Conservative government went to the front on Wednesday to defend its controversial illegal immigration bill in the face of widespread criticism, including that of ex-footballer Gary Lineker, now a star BBC presenter, who drew parallels with the Nazi Germany. With this bill, the British government wants to try to combat the sharp increase in the arrival of illegal migrants by the English Channel on small boats, one of the main promises of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
It provides for the rapid deportation of migrants arriving in this way and prohibits them from applying for asylum, and subsequently from settling in the United Kingdom or applying for British nationality. It also facilitates the detention of migrants until their deportation to a third country deemed safe. "The British have had enough... It's not racist to say that we have too many illegal immigrants abusing our asylum system," Interior Minister Suella Braverman insisted in an op-ed published on Wednesday. in the Daily Mail.
The text has been strongly criticized by refugee aid associations, who believe that it is contrary to international law, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has accused the government of wanting to "end the right to asylum" in the country. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday he was "deeply concerned" about the British bill. "Such a blanket ban preventing people from seeking asylum and other forms of international protection in the UK would conflict with the UK's human rights and refugee law obligations," Volker said. Türk, in a written statement.
But it was the words of ex-England international Gary Lineker that made the headlines in many conservative newspapers on Wednesday. "My God, this is beyond awful. There is no mass influx (of illegal migrants) […] It is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed against the most vulnerable people in language that is no different from that used by Germany in the 1930s," the now presenter of BBC's The Match of the Day tweeted on Tuesday.
Tory MPs have called for BBC sanctions against the former England international, accusing him of going too far. Asked about the BBC, the Minister of the Interior, already criticized for previous remarks on migrants, said she was "obviously disappointed that he could compare our measures to those of Germany in the 1930s". "I don't think that's an appropriate way to conduct the debate," she added. "We're not breaking the law. We are confident that the measures we announced yesterday (Tuesday) meet our international legal obligations,” she also said on Sky News.
