Shadow Housing Minister Paul Holmes has criticised a judge’s ruling allowing a Palestinian family to remain in the UK, claiming the decision goes against the wishes of the British public.
Speaking on GB News, Holmes said: “This is another example of the judiciary not representing the views and wishes of the British people.”
The minister expressed his frustration with what he sees as judicial overreach in immigration matters.
“What I’m seeing, and what I understand why many people are angry, is that the judiciary are not taking the wishes of the British people as they should do, and the Government now needs to act to tighten up those rules,” Holmes told GB News.
Paul Holmes hit out at the decision by a UK court to allow a Gazan family of migrants to settle despite applying via a Ukrainian scheme
GB News
Holmes specifically addressed the Ukrainian visa scheme during the GB News interview with Eamonn Holmes and Ellie Costello.
“We brought in a number of measures in the last government to make sure that people who were entitled to come here in a right and fair way could come here, such as the Ukrainian visa scheme, such as Afghan refugees,” he said.
The Shadow Housing Minister emphasised that the scheme had specific limitations.
“The Ukrainian visa scheme was not set up for any other asylum seeker to come into the country,” Holmes stated firmly.
“You cannot have the judiciary and judges out taking a stance that is out of the policy that the government intended in the first place,” he added.
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The family were living in a Gazan refugee camp after their home was destroyed by an air strikeGETTYHolmes called for immediate legislative action to address the situation: “The Government needs to tighten the legislation.”
The Shadow Housing Minister insisted that immigration decisions should rest with Parliament rather than the courts.
“They need to make it very clear to the judiciary that it is the government and Parliament’s decision of who can come here and who can’t come here,” Holmes stated.
He urged the judiciary to take a step back from such decisions.
“The judges and the judiciary in this country need to step back and make the right decision in these cases going forward,” he said.
Holmes told GB News that the decision is ‘not representing the view of the British people’
GB News
Holmes emphasised the need for stricter controls. “The Government now needs to legislate to tighten those schemes, tighten the rules, and say that is the government’s decision,” he concluded.
The family of refugees made their initial application through the Ukraine Family Scheme and their case was accepted.
However, judge Hugo Norton-Taylor overturned the decision on the basis that their situation “outweighed public interest”.
He said the family’s “extreme and life threatening” situation outweighed the “public interest” of the rules on entry to the UK – set in place to control the number of migrants coming to Britain.