Desperate times call for desperate measures seems to the mantra of the day in Labour HQ. First a foreign office minister insisted that ceding the Chagos Islands was essential to avoid, er, war – and now Labour MP Stella Creasy has invoked Paddington Bear to stand up for illegal migrants. You couldn’t make it up…
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the backbench MP hit out at her own government’s plans to slash numbers of illegal migrants coming to the UK. Her intervention comes after the Home Office last night announced rules that will prevent small boat arrivals from becoming British citizens. No matter how long they’ve been in the UK, anyone who gets into Britain by sneaking across in a vehicle will be unable to get citizenship.
This was far too draconian for Creasy, however, who spent her morning telling the Today show why the new measures weren’t right. She lamented to the Beeb that:
I have Afghan interpreters who came via an irregular route because the previous government fundamentally failed to take them to safety, so they came via that route. When they have made a life here this change means it is unlikely they will ever be able to get citizenship.
This is not about whether we offer these people refuge. These people can stay here already. This is about people who are here, who are part of our communities.
And if that heartfelt plea wasn’t enough to persuade her government to row back, the Labour MP was ready to deploy her ace of spades. Turning to the matter of a fictional talking bear, whose film character was actually issued with a British passport by the Home Office, Creasy fumed: ‘It would deny, frankly, Paddington. Paddington did the same thing; he came by an irregular route and we couldn’t give him a passport.’ Well, that changes everything!
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