Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill — Only remove asylum seekers who are criminals if their sentence was ten years or more — rejected — 10 Oct 2002 at 19:30
The majority Not-Contents rejected an amendment[1] to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill.
The Bill gives the government the power to remove asylum seekers from the UK if they were convicted of a crime in another country for which the sentence was two years or more[2]. The aim of the amendment in this vote was to:
- 'change the test so that a person would be presumed to be a serious criminal if he had been convicted of a crime which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment or more—rather than using the criterion of the length of sentence imposed.'[3]
However, the amendment was defeated.
The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill became law in 2002. Its main aims were to:[4]
- Allow asylum seekers to be detained at any time
- Disallow appeals from within the UK from failed asylum seekers who are citizens of a specific country
- Deny asylum seekers support unless they make their claim "as soon as reasonably practicable" after arrival into the UK
- Create accommodation centres to house destitute asylum seekers
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- [1] Lord Kingsland, House of Lords, 10 October 2002
- [2] Section 72 in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act
- [3] Lord Kingsland, House of Lords, 10 October 2002
- [4] Based on The Guardian's A-Z of legislation
Party Summary
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.Party | Majority (Content) | Minority (Not-Content) | Turnout |
Con | 33 (+1 tell) | 0 | 15.3% |
Crossbench | 8 | 1 | 5.2% |
Lab | 0 | 68 (+2 tell) | 35.7% |
LDem | 33 (+1 tell) | 0 | 51.5% |
UUP | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
Total: | 75 | 69 | 22.5% |
All lords Eligible to Vote - sorted by party
Includes lords who were absent (or abstained) from this vote.