UK ‘won’t surrender’ asylum veto
Britain will not give up its veto in the European Union on asylum policy, the Home Office has insisted.
A report in today’s Times says that the newspaper has obtained a leaked copy of proposals contained in a five-year plan for immigration and justice policy, which David Blunkett will discuss with ministers from all 25 EU countries.
The paper says the aim of the so-called “Hague Programme” is to create a “Common European Asylum System”, where Britain and the other EU countries would agree to sacrifice the right to veto asylum policy.
But the Government insists that under existing treaty agreements the UK and Ireland can choose to opt out of policies they do not like.
“If we didn’t have the protection we have already negotiated, we would be far more cautious about moving to qualified majority voting. For the UK, it is win, win. We get faster decision-making, and we don’t have to implement things we don’t want,” a Government spokesman told the paper.
Responding to the paper’s claims, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis told The Times: “Maintaining control of your immigration and asylum system is vital to the British national interest.”
