---

Benefits: Non-British Citizens

My Lords, I am sure that I not alone in wanting to thank the noble Lord, Lord Roberts of Llandudno, for raising this issue this evening. The warmth and commitment with which he brings his unashamed Welsh non-conformist values into our debates adds to the quality of our deliberations in this House. Long may that continue. I was therefore surprised by one sweeping point that he made at the beginning of his remarks that rather took me by surprise. He said that some were here illegally, and should of course be sent home. I wish that I thought that it was quite as simple as that. Given the dreadful story behind the situation of some of those who are here illegally, it seems that they have precious little choice but to be here. It is not quite as simple as the noble Lord suggested. I am sure that he would agree with me that, in this policy area, the Government face one of the most difficult and complex tasks. I am sure that many of us have good will towards the Government as they try to grapple with it. It is a difficult issue, and not helped by the wilful misrepresentations of some of the media. It is important to remember that, within the sphere of those who remain without permission, there are, as the noble Lord, Lord Roberts, suggested, different categories. There are certainly those with no protection needs in the UK who should return. But there are also those who cannot leave the UK through no fault of their own. For example, they may be stateless and have no country to return to. Their Government may not provide them with travel documents, preventing their return. They may be too sick to travel, or there may be no viable route whereby they may return home. There are those who, having been in the UK for a long period, have developed strong ties with it, such as entering relationships and having children. There are those who genuinely believe that it is unsafe for them to return because of armed conflict and repressive regimes. In some cases, the UK Government recognise that it is not safe for these people to go home, even though they have not granted them asylum in the UK. For example, in 2005, they refused asylum to some people from Zimbabwe but have not removed them. Perhaps slightly more equivocal is the issue of the non-Arabs from Darfur. We know that there is acute hardship among these people. Just think of it amidst the weather that we have been enduring for the past couple of days. Some are totally destitute, dependent on chance and spontaneous charity to survive at all. This is in a country that we are struggling to keep as one of the leading economies of the world. Some must survive under Section 4. It was calculated last September that there might be some 10,000 in that situation. They have accommodation of a sort provided, and must then survive on £35 a week in vouchers. How many of us, as we look at our expenses in the House of Lords, would like to think of surviving on £35 a week? We must keep a sense of perspective about these things. It is less than two-thirds of the basic income support rate. If we have something called the ““basic income support rate””, that presumably means that it is the basic income level. These people are somehow expected to survive on less than two-thirds of it. The vouchers are inflexible. They cannot be exchanged for cash, and in attempts to do so the unofficial rate means that they are worth only £25. They cannot be used for clothing. They cannot be used for medicaments, sanitary items or even basic essentials such as paracetamol. On health, I was a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights when it produced its report on asylum. Right across the party divide, as a whole committee, we became more and more profoundly disturbed by what we saw—and really quite angry. Hence, we produced a rather tough report to which, if my noble friend the Minister will forgive my saying so, we have never yet seen a convincing reply. Think of how people with serious health needs are officially debarred from receiving the medical care that they should have. Think of the moral pressure and dilemmas that this places on the medical profession, including GPs who may be unable to ensure that the necessary medical attention can be made available. They may have to engage in subterfuges such as sending people to accident and emergency departments because that is the only way that any help will be provided. They may be watching sick people who could be prevented from getting worse getting gravely sick until it is an accident-and-emergency situation. That is a terrible pressure to put on honourable members of the medical profession. It is also counterproductive, because it may mean that social diseases go untreated and we are therefore putting the population as a whole at greater risk. On education, one encounters traumas among children who are fully established residents, from families that have been here for centuries, when they see dreadful things happening to children with whom they have relationships and have felt to be part of their community, when those children are suddenly removed without explanation. How does the absence of legal aid help? It probably ends up with more muddle, confusion and cost. The noble Lord, Lord Roberts, mentioned the Joint Committee on Human Rights and its report. I wonder whether we had the same sort of briefing, because he picked the two excerpts from the report that I was going to read. I shall not repeat them. However, apart from the humanitarian and moral issues, what worries me is the political issue. We live in a terribly dangerous age. It does not take many people who have been embittered to do terrible things or become caught up in them. I sometimes think that some experiences that people go through in immigration are almost designed to embitter them and make them possible targets for extremist recruitment. But, of course, what is more important is what sort of society we want to be. We cannot appease prejudice and we certainly cannot buy off wilfully malicious press coverage. We have to look at the impact on race relations in general in society, if we appear to be subjecting people to embittering experiences in their search for asylum, particularly when, as the noble Lord rightly said, one remembers the traumas which these people have undergone. At a time like this when the going gets tough, I suggest that this is the very time to stand firm on the principles which matter. This requires strong political leadership, not trying to appease the worst instincts in society, in which we should be behind those who carry the political responsibility on our behalf. Twenty-eight organisations have written to some of us about the issues as they see them from church and caring organisations to voluntary organisations in the front line. These are responsible, sensible organisations that many of us support. They have sent us a very interesting and detailed brief. I give my noble friend notice that I intend to send it in its entirety to him in the hope that I can be given a detailed response from the Government on all the points it raises. But above all let us remember that history will look at us now, in an increasingly globalised, interdependent world, and judge us pretty toughly on how far the values that we say are essential to Britain, and of which we say we are proud, are really applied in the immigration and asylum process.