LONDON: A motion to add India to the UK’s “safe states list” was cleared by a parliamentary committee on Wednesday despite objections from some opposition MPs who said India was “not safe”.
The fifth delegated legislation committee voted 9 to 2 that it had considered the statutory instrument to add India and Georgia to the UK’s list of safe countries of origin, meaning that asylum or human rights claims from nationals of either country will be deemed inadmissible, without any right of appeal, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
The safety of LGBT people and alleged human rights abuses were raised by some MPs as reasons why India should not be added to the list.
Government will now needto put the motion for approval in the Commons and Lords. There will be no further debate, but there could be a vote.
Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and EU states are on the safe list.
Michael Tomlinson, minister for countering illegal migration, said: “For the year ending September 2023, asylum applications from India increased to more than 4,700, doubling from the year before and trebling from September 2019.” He said India was being added to “tackle unfounded and unnecessary protection and human rights claims from people who are in safe countries.”
SNP MP Chris Stephens said: “Given that the home office has accepted asylum claims from people from Georgia and India, I find it quite bizarre that we are just now declaring these countries to be safe.”