Migrants waiting to cross the Channel (Image: Getty)
Open-borders zealots are working with union barons to convince Andy Burnham to let more asylum seekers into the UK.
Care4Calais, a left-wing organisation which supports migrants, is coordinating a campaign to the incoming Prime Minister demanding “safe routes now” for those who would cross the Channel.
It is another potential headache for Mr Burnham as 100 Labour MPs on Monday night refused to back Shabana Mahmood’s asylum reforms.
Labour’s Immigration and Asylum Bill will make it harder for foreign criminals and rejected asylum seekers to use human rights laws to block their removal; streamline the appeals system; force migrants to repay the costs of their accommodation; and enable fast-track deportations.
But union barons are working with Care4Calais to try and force Mr Burnham to water down the plans.
An email – seen by the Daily Express – claims: “Andy, it is no coincidence that Channel crossings became a thing just as the UK shut down its last remaining safe routes.
“As the UK requires refugees to be in the country before they can claim asylum here, it has resulted in people being forced to seek other ways to arrive here.
“Safe routes would solve this overnight.
“We know that because it worked with the Ukrainian resettlement scheme.
“When the scheme was opened, the Ukrainian community that was gathering in Calais dispersed as they now had a safe route to reach the UK.
“As a result, no Ukrainian has had to cross the Channel to reach safety in the UK.
“The same would happen if we offered safe routes to refugees from other countries such as Sudan and Eritrea – the vast majority of whom we grant asylum too.”
It then adds: “PCS union and refugee charity Care4Calais have developed a workable policy on safe routes. I am asking that you (and your team) read the policy and act upon it.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp warned during a debate in Parliament: “Let me touch on the proposal for so-called safe and legal routes, or refugee sponsorship.
Andy Burnham is facing mutinous MPs (Image: Getty)
“The numbers that we are talking about would be in addition to the number of asylum claims that we are already processing.
“Last year saw the highest number of asylum claims in history.
“From memory, it was somewhere in the region of 109,000. This year, the number will only be a little lower.
“Adding to that when we already have record numbers of asylum claims strikes me as irresponsible.
“She also asserted that the people coming in by these routes would not be a burden on the general taxpayer, because their sponsor would look after them.
“She neglected to mention that that support has to last only for the first year.
“Thereafter, the taxpayer would have to pick up the tab. I must say that I do not support the creation of these schemes until we have illegal immigration and asylum claims down essentially to zero.”