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Immigration Bill: government side-steps calls for humanitarian balance

MPs made strong appeals to the government's sense of compassion, justice and fair play during the Commons debate on the Immigration Bill last week. The government remained emphatically unmoved.

By Alina Müller
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For anyone following the debate on the Immigration Bill 2015-2016 since its introduction in September, the latest debate in the House of Commons provided few surprises and might even have felt repetitive both in content and outcome.

Scottish Nationalist MP Stuart C. McDonald set the tone for the debate by declaring that the bill was 'ill-conceived and regressive'. Its main purpose, he said, is to make the government look tough on immigration to supporters disappointed by its failure to hit the 'tens of thousands' target for net migration by 2015.

The discussion then moved between considering amendments to specific provisions in the bill and questioning its general premise and purpose.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0