A senior has criticised her government’s own plans to crack down on illegal migrants, on the basis it would have barred Paddington Bear from becoming a British citizen.
Last night the Home Office announced new rules that will make it almost impossible for anyone arriving in the UK by small boat to become a British citizen.
The new guidance states any illegal migrant who comes here by boat or by hiding in a vehicle will by default be refused citizenship regardless of how long they’ve been in Britain.
This morning Labour MP Stella Creasy blasted the new rules on the grounds it will bar well-meaning and hard-working refugees from becoming British.
She told Radio 4: “I have Afghan interpreters who came via an irregular route because the previous government fundamentally failed to take them to safety, so they came via that route.”
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Paddington Bear wouldn’t be allowed citizenship under new rules (Image: Getty)
“When they have made a life here this change means it is unlikely they will ever be able to get citizenship…
“This is not about whether we offer these people refuge, these people can stay here already. This is about people who are here, who are part of our communities.”
She also cited a constituent who fled Syria, has now got a degree and is contributing to Britain and has just got British citizenship.
Ms Creasy argued: “This process would deny that.”
She then made the bizarre claim that the Home Office’s new rules would deny Paddington Bear citizenship, the fictional character who came to Britain by boat from Peru.
She blasted: “It would deny, frankly, Paddington. Paddington did the same thing, he came by an irregular route and we couldn’t give him a passport.”
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Labour MP Stella Creasy made the bizarre argument this morning on Radio 4 (Image: Getty)
In October it was revealed the Home Office had issued a British passport to Paddington Bear after the producers of the third film instalment wrote to the department asking for the prop.
Producer Rob Silva told Times Radio: “We wrote to the Home Office asking if we could get a replica, and they actually issued Paddington with an official passport.”
“You wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they’ve just listed him as Bear.”
Stella Creasy, a prominent anti- MP, warned her government that the move is insulting to illegal migrants as it bars them from becoming “part of our community”.
“I gently say to my colleagues on the front bench: that is counter productive. It is not where the British public are at.
“They recognise there aren’t safe routes. If you are an Iranian dissident right now fleeing the regime there is not a safe route so you may well have come in a boat.
“If we let you stay in this country we should also have a route that allows you to be a part of this country and that is what citizenship is.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “There are already rules that can prevent those arriving illegally from gaining citizenship.
“This guidance further strengthens measures to make it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally, including small boat arrivals, faces having a British citizenship application refused.”