Lib Dems Support Human Rights for Deportees
September 14, 2005 1:20 PM
In a letter to today's Oxford Mail, Cllr Janet Godden says:
During yesterday's County Council debate about the impact of ID cards on the people of Oxfordshire the Conservative Group proposed that parliamentary time would be better spent opposing new EU directives on returning foreign nationals who offend against a new list of 'unacceptable behaviours' to their countries of origin. Conservative councillors think that the UK should determine its own rule, and there was clearly no intention that these should be other than grossly illiberal.
The proposed EU directives would forbid the return of people to countries where they could face persecution or torture. It would also give people who haven't been convicted of criminal activity the right to appeal against deportation independent of any appeal concerning their asylum or refugee status. The Commission explicitly cites the European Convention of Human Rights - to which Britain is a signatory - as a yardstick against which such appeals should be judged.
Do we really want to part company with the rest of Europe on matters such as these? The 35% of the people of Oxfordshire who voted Conservative on 5 May on the basis of a campaign largely fuelled by immigration issues are certainly getting what they voted for. But the rest of us?
(Note: the Conservative amendment was finally ruled out of order by the Chairman, Conservative Cllr Mrs Fulljames)
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