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Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

In the two months since I was honoured to be elected as Member of Parliament for Ilford, North, I have had more than 100 immigration and asylum cases to deal with, and I hope that this Bill will address some of the problems that my constituents have been experiencing. We must deal with people in a fair manner and with compassion and common sense, but also quickly. In several of the cases that I am dealing with, some of which I have inherited, it is a question not so much of 13 weeks but of 13 months, and I sincerely hope that it does not become 13 years. One case involves a lady who has been given leave to stay, as has her younger child, but her older child is still waiting for it. Can that be right? Some cases involve people who wished to visit for relatives’ weddings and have shown the necessary proof but have missed the occasion because they were never given their entry visas. Does the Home Office have enough staff to deal with these cases? I do not wish to get anyone into trouble, but during a recent phone call to inquire about one of my constituents, I was told that it was inundated and could not cope. Will the Minister look into that as a matter of urgency and ensure that more staff, properly paid, are dealing with these cases to try to clear the backlog? I do not wish to sit in judgment on whether someone should stay in this country, but I do believe that out of respect for them we should deal with their case quickly and let them know where they stand. Why is the Home Office getting things so wrong? Is it because the numbers are so vast? If I have had 100 cases—I accept that not every Member of Parliament will have had that number—that must mean that thousands of cases have come in over the past eight weeks. Multiplied over the year, that is 96,000 cases. On 6 June, the Law Society issued a press release that says:"““Poor decision making by the Immigration Service combined with changes to the law could prevent significant numbers of people from visiting their families””." We must tackle this. It cannot be right that people cannot visit their own families who are allowed to stay in this country. The Labour party’s immigration policy says:"““We will support family life by admitting the spouses and minor dependent children of those already settled in the UK. We will ensure that the asylum decisions are both swift and fair and fully meet the UK’s obligation towards refugees under international law. And we will detect and remove those entering and remaining in the UK without authority and take firm action against those profiting from abuse of the immigration laws, including effective preventative measures.””" The current system is not working; it is in chaos. I hope that the Bill will go a long way towards tackling that, but I fear that it will not.