Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill — Only withdraw support from failed asylum seekers after an independent evaluation — rejected — 18 May 2004 at 18:37
The majority Not-Contents rejected an amendment[1] to the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill.
In the Bill the government has the power to withdraw support from failed asylum seekers and their families[2]. This occurs when those asylum seekers do not take reasonable steps to leave the country. The amendment in this vote aimed to change this so that withdrawal of support could only happen if an independent evaluation of the asylum seekers had taken place[3].
The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill became law in 2004. Its main aims were to:[4]
- Simplify the process of appeal for asylum seekers
- Criminalise people who arrive into the UK without a valid travel document unless they have a reasonable excuse
- Stop supporting failed asylum seekers and their families if they do not leave the UK
- Allow the government to tag and track asylum seekers
- Provide accommodation to failed asylum seekers who cannot return home immediately
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- [1] Lord Avebury, House of Lords, 18 May 2004
- [2] Clause 8 in the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
- [3] By introducing a new section into Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 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 (Not-Content) | Minority (Content) | Turnout |
| Bishop | 0 | 1 | 3.7% |
| Con | 3 | 3 | 2.9% |
| Ind Lab | 0 | 1 | 100.0% |
| Lab | 95 (+2 tell) | 0 | 52.4% |
| LDem | 0 | 30 (+2 tell) | 50.8% |
| UUP | 1 | 1 | 66.7% |
| Crossbench | 9 | 17 | 15.7% |
| Total: | 108 | 53 | 25.3% |
All lords Eligible to Vote - sorted by party
Includes lords who were absent (or abstained) from this vote.