Latest updates: levelling up secretary writes to Keir Starmer claiming plan would ‘downgrade privilege of British citizenship’
Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing general secretary, will use her speech to the RCN conference later to launch a strong attack on the government’s policy on immigration. According to extracts released in advance, she will say:
Diversity is one of our many strengths as a profession. In this hall alone there will be colleagues who completed their education, and perhaps started their careers, in Africa, in Asia, in the Americas.
Whether somebody comes to this country ready to work as a highly skilled nurse; or they arrive as a political refugee from war or persecution; or they simply want a new and prosperous life in the UK, they are beyond welcome.
Every single point on each route used by people traffickers to smuggle people across our continent represents another community struggling to deal with the human cost of this barbaric enterprise.
It is very clear that our current international system is not working, and our communities and the world’s most vulnerable people are paying the price.
We need to ensure we have an international legal system which allows sovereign countries to take the domestic steps necessary to help those most in need. That includes reform to the ECHR’s Rule 39 process to ensure proper transparency, greater accountability and ensuring decisions can be reconsidered.
