MPs reject call to leave ECHR over migrant housing plans near Piddington
Plans to house asylum seekers at a former MoD site spark controversy
MPs have rejected a Conservative call for the Government to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights “in order to deport illegal migrants”.
They voted by 309 to 113, majority 196, against the motion, which would have also condemned plans to house 1,256 asylum seeking males at a disused Ministry of Defence (MoD) site near Piddington, Oxfordshire.
Villagers in Piddington last month voted to leave the UK in a symbolic referendum, held in response to the plans.
In the House of Commons on Wednesday, shadow women and equalities minister Joy Morrissey said MPs should back the proposal to “stand up for our local communities to protect them from illegal migrant men”.
She claimed asylum seeking men had committed “horrific crimes” over recent years, saying that they “should have been deported before they could roam our streets and forever change the lives of young women and girls”.
Ms Morrissey also said Labour MPs did not want to debate “this issue because of the ideological capture of their own party – capture by people who have placed an obsession with multiculturalism above a cohesive British society”.
Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller, whose Bicester and Woodstock constituency is home to both Piddington and the MoD Bicester site, described the location as “wrong for local communities”, asylum seekers and taxpayers.
He said he had heard Piddington residents’ concerns about women and girls’ safety.
“I understand why they are fearful today,” he continued.
“As a society, we are failing to protect them from predatory men and, when the worst happens, the justice system is not delivering them swift justice.
“No wonder they lack confidence they will be kept safe.”
But Mr Miller also said the Conservatives and Reform UK were “trying to turn this into a race issue”, and added: “It’s not a race issue, it’s a man issue.
“Women and girls are at risk from the behaviour of men.
“Tragically, nine in 10 assaults are committed by men they know.
“I will continue to fight for more police and court resources to keep women and girls safe.”
Mr Miller accused his opponents of trying to “divide rather than unite” with their bid to call on the Government to leave the ECHR.
And Home Office minister Anna Turley warned leaving the ECHR risked “undermining crucial co-operation with European partners” to reduce the number of people seeking asylum in the UK.
“The idea that leaving the convention is the way forward is not borne out by reality,” she said.
“Not only is it unnecessary to restore effective control of the immigration system, it would be counterproductive given the risk of undermining crucial cooperation with European partners, some of which we’re already still dealing with as a consequence of Brexit.
“Let us be clear the convention delivers for people in this country too – it guarantees their rights to privacy, their rights to a fair trial, their rights to free speech and permanent privileges that cannot be chopped and changed.”
Ms Turley added that instead of withdrawing from the convention, the Government wanted to reform how it applies the right to a fair trial, “restoring the proper balance between individual rights and the public interest”.
The minister also said: “For too long, the way in which we house asylum seekers has not been fair.
“Billions of pounds have been spent putting them up in hotels while communities have seen these hotels, often at the centre of their towns or cities become a symbol of a broken asylum system.
“Areas where housing costs are low and which are already left behind were asked to bear more than their fair share.”
On whether to house migrants near Piddington, Ms Turley said “no final decision has been made”, as she described the villagers’ campaign as “incredibly imaginative and very forceful”.
Among the supporters of the call to leave the ECHR were Aphra Brandreth, the Conservative MP for Chester South and Eddisbury, who said human rights in the UK “long predate” the convention.
Reform UK MP Suella Braverman, the former Conservative home secretary, said fears for women and girls’ safety were “not irrational”.
She added: “The tragedy of all this is that this is caused by the ECHR.
“People come here on the boats illegally, they claim to be victims of persecution, they claim to have family rights here – all gaming human rights laws against us.”
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch last month visited Piddington, where she met a group of more than 40 women assembled at the village hall.
Making her pitch to leave the ECHR, Mrs Badenoch said the document was “written when refugees came from Europe – not in this age of mass travel, mobile phones, GPS, where people are reading the websites about which benefits they can claim before they’ve even left their original country”.