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I write to urge you to oppose the government’s 2026 Immigration and Asylum Bill in its entirety.

This Bill is yet another step along the Labour government’s descent into [fascism](https://jcwi.org.uk/updates/forced-family-returns/), tearing apart human rights protections and the rule of law. These cruel attacks on people seeking safety must be opposed as a point of principle.

The Bill:

*   Further tramples on refugee rights. People seeking safety have the right to sanctuary. They should be allowed to use the same routes as everyone else to come to the UK, without facing violent border controls. The ‘sponsorship’ model undermines and limits this right.        
     
*   Makes it possible to force asylum seekers to pay up to £10,000 to the Home Office. No one should be forced into debt just for seeking safety. Denying asylum seekers the right to work and rent, forcing them into destitution, and then requiring them to repay the Home Office is shameful.       
     
*   Undermines Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, the right to family and private life. Everyone has a right to private and family life and this Bill will tear people away from their loved ones and carers, including British people and people settled in the UK.       
     
*   Penalises survivors of [modern slavery](https://www.atleu.org.uk/cases-news/the-new-immigration-and-asylum-bill-will-damage-modern-slavery-protections) and human trafficking by setting arbitrary deadlines for disclosure of what they have suffered. It also removes the duty to grant temporary leave to remain for people who have been found to be survivors, leaving them exposed to further exploitation or destitution. This will only embolden traffickers, enabling exploitation to thrive. Survivors must not be punished for the failures of the system and traffickers.        
     
*   Enables the government to carry out automatic deportations of people with custodial sentences, many of whom may have been criminalised by the state due to the way in which they arrived here or who are survivors of slavery and trafficking. This further undermines rule of law and expands the state’s repressive and violent border infrastructure.        
     
*   Effectively abolishes the right to appeal Home Office asylum and human rights decisions to an independent judicial body. The Bill removes the existing role of the First-Tier Tribunal and replaces it with a so-called Independent Immigration Appeals Authority, controlled by the Home Office. With adjudicators appointed by a Chief Executive chosen by the Secretary of State, this will become an overtly political body, erasing the current role played by an independent judiciary at the First-Tier Tribunal. This undermines the separation of powers between the government and the judiciary, which is the keystone of democracy.    
       
*   Further, having lay people as adjudicators in complex appeals will only serve to increase delays and the Tribunal backlog. It is a bizarre solution to the systemic problem of poor decision making and delays by the Home Office.

I urge you to oppose this Bill at all stages of the parliamentary process, speak out publicly against it, and organise other MPs in Parliament to do the same. I also urge you to publicly oppose [the racist and classist ‘Earned’ settlement proposals](https://jcwi.org.uk/updates/statement-90-rights-groups-reject-racist-classist-earned-settlement-proposals/) and call to reverse the shameful changes to refugee status that have made it temporary and renewable every 30 months, rather than permanent.

**I pledge not to vote for any MP who does not oppose this Bill and I will organise in my community to encourage others to do the same.**

WRITE TO YOUR MP

Stop the Immigration and Asylum Bill 2026