S1, E8 The UK government’s new plan for immigration: implications for refugees

Refugee Realities

In March 2021, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, made headlines with the announcement of the Governments ‘New Plan for Immigration’. This ‘New Plan’ outlined the most significant overhaul to the UK’s existing refugee and asylum policy in decades. The government stated that this overhaul will create a ‘fairer’ system and insists that it was ‘breaking the business model of people smuggling networks and protecting the lives of those they endanger’. However, despite the government's claims, the new plans have been heavily criticised, with adversaries claiming it lacks compassion, is impractical, and undermines the UK’s commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocols. In this podcast, we will break down what this new bill proposes, assessing what these proposals will mean for those trying to seek asylum within the UK. To aid us in our discussion, we have with us two guests: Our first guest is Zoe Gardner, a policy advisor for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, a UK based charity whose work includes providing legal support and assistance for refugees and asylum seekers. Our second guest is Dr. Matilde Rosina, an LSE Fellow in International Migration at the European Institute. Her work examines the criminalisation of irregular migration in Europe, investigating its functioning, effectiveness, and consequences. In addition to breaking down the changes this new bill will make, this podcast also assesses the legality of these changes, the extent to which the bill will impact people smuggling, as well as a discussion on how this new plan represents the trend of securitising the refugee regime.