Team Blitz India
A motion to add India to the UK’s safe states list has been cleared by a parliamentary committee. The move, once cleared by Commons and Lords, will prevent Indian nationals from making asylum or human rights claims in the UK.
The motion was cleared 9 to 2 by the fifth delegated legislation committee on January 10 despite objections from some opposition MPs to put Georgia along with India on the UK’s safe list. It means that asylum claims from nationals of India and Georgia will be deemed inadmissible, after both Houses clears the proposal, without any right of appeal, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
“For the year ending September 2023, asylum applications from India increased to more than 4,700, doubling from the year before and trebling from September 2019,” Michael Tomlinson, minister for countering illegal migration, said on the occasion. He said India was being added to the safe list to “tackle unfounded and unnecessary protection and human rights claims from people who are in safe countries.”
In the first nine months of last year, there were 150 enforced returns to India while 2,676 returns to India were voluntary after rejection of the asylum application.
“Given that the home office has accepted asylum claims from people from Georgia and India, I find it quite bizarre that we are just now declaring these countries to be safe,” SNP MP Chris Stephens said criticising the UK government’s move.
Some MPs raised the safety of LGBT people and some reported human rights abuses as reasons why India should not be added to the list. These arguments were finally voted against in the Parliamentary body.
