Briefing: Asylum legislation in need of repeal

In each of the three years leading up to the last election, the previous Government introduced new asylum legislation which Parliament duly passed.

The present Government has in various ways signalled its intention to break with its predecessor's policy on asylum for reasons of cost. While the extraordinary sums of public money squandered by its predecessor make a good case for that, there are many other profound reasons why it should change course.

However, if it is to achieve what it has signalled as its intention, it must repeal the legislation that underpins its predecessor's policy including legislation that has no purpose whatsoever but to enable or even require that policy to be implemented.

This briefing explains what needs to go and why.