Tory Anti-Immigration Taliban Out In Force

The East Midlands anti-immigration Taliban were out in force yesterday in parliament introducing two bill designed to save 'our precious bodily fluids' from being 'sapped and impurified' by the introduction of 'nasty foreigners'. Philip Hollobone and Peter Bone, Tory MPs for the neighbouring Kettering and Wellingborough constituencies, led a cohort of right-wing Tory MPs* who clearly consider themselves the true voice of Torydom, that have put forward a swathe of Presentation Bills on such subjects as the repeal of the Human Rights Act, a referendum for withdrawal from the EU, a return to compulsory national service, the right to kill burglars, a 'taxation freedom day' and the abolition of the TV licence.

Hollobone is the bandwagon-jumper responsible for the Islamophobic Face Covering (Regulations) private member's bill, which had its first Commons' reading last week, and his latest effort is the Return of Asylum Seekers (Applications from Certain Countries) Bill. This law is aimed to "provide for the immediate return of asylum seekers to countries designated as safe", a particular bugbear, nay obsession, of his. Though the actual text of the bill has not been published (as far as we know - at least we have been unable to find it on the web), the plan appears to be to extend the 'non-suspensive' provision of section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 to all refused asylum claims and to get people straight on planes back to their countries of origin irrespective of whether there are any binding agreements between the UK government and the governments of those countries. Basically mass forced collective deportations, counter the EU and international law.

Added to that, Sven-lookalike Peter Bone added his own but even more bizarre prospective law, supported by a ragbag of die-hard Thatcherites, entitled the Human Trafficking (Border Control) Bill to require "border control officers to stop and interview potential victims of trafficking notwithstanding entitlements under European Union law to free movement of persons". Whilst the meaning of this law is somewhat obscure (no available text again), it would seem that Bone has become jealous of the Arizona legislation allowing police to stop people who look like Mexicans and check their immigration status and might be seeking to introduce his own particular version of this via this effectively 'Trojan horse' legislation. After all, everyone knows how what at first appears to be a new apparently narrowly focused law is progressively adapted and widened to further erode civil liberties. This could just be one such pieces of 'slippery slope' legislation.


* Including fruit loops such as Chichester MP Christopher Chope and the aptly named Mark Reckless and David Nuttall. Apparently, Hollobone, Bone and Chope took it in relays overnight on Sunday to secure first place in the queue to introduce 28 right-whinge bills that look likely to drive a stake into the LibCon alliance of the undead at some point in the near future.