In response to the UK Government’s new Immigration White Paper [PDF] out today, Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said:

It’s right that ministers look to address concern over immigration, but the public wants principled competence rather than populist performance. The right to asylum is a fundamental principle of the international protection system and one of our nation’s core humanitarian obligations.

We would be deeply concerned if these plans result in making it even harder for victims of conflict and oppressive regimes to get a fair hearing or if they fail to protect children wrongly deemed to be adults.

The Prime Minister rightly talked about migration being part of our national story. Nowhere is this more true than with refugees, who have enriched British life and contributed to our national prosperity. We know from decades working with refugees that key for good integration into Britain is support with learning English as well as the ability to lay down roots here long term.

That is how people build decent new lives and are able to thrive. We fear the Government’s proposals will create barriers for refugees and undermine their ability to rebuild their lives and contribute to UK life as generations of refugees have done before.  

It’s less than a year since towns up and down the country were shocked by violence that targeted refugees and sought to tear communities apart. We need an immigration system that enables integration and contribution into communities and helps to heal divides, rather than deepen them further.