Blair sets asylum priority
The Prime Minister Tony Blair has revealed that the Government will set out further plans to tackle immigration and asylum early in 2005.
Mr Blair said he understood that confidence in Britain was eroded by fear of crime and uncertainty over asylum and border security.
In what is likely to be his last New Year’s message before a general election he also vowed to keep up the pressure to raise standards in schools and the NHS.
He said: “My vision is and will remain a country of rising social mobility where the talent of our people is developed to the full and where you get on in life depending on hard work not birth or background.”
And, in the year that Britain holds the presidency of the EU and the leadership of the G8, he said it was time to tackle “longstanding international issues” such as the Middle East, Africa, climate change, fair trade liberalisation and economic reform.
On Crime, he said: “I know people’s confidence in Britain can be diminished by the fear of crime and the uncertainty they feel about asylum and the security of our national borders.
“In 2005 we will continue to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour and increase our efforts to ensure the integrity of our borders and remove failed asylum seekers from Britain.
“To this end, I want to see the Identity Cards Bill passed by Parliament in 2005. We will also set out further proposals on asylum and immigration in the early New Year.”
He vowed to “keep up the pressure to raise standards in schools” and said he wanted “a new emphasis on discipline and order in the classroom.”
The Government would also continue “both the investment and the radical changes in the NHS.”
Turning to foreign affairs he said Britain would use its close relationship with the US to secure peaceful conflict resolution in the Middle East.
And looking to next month’s elections in Iraq, he said they should be seen as “a sign of Britain’s determination to counter the destructive threat of terrorism wherever it appears, with the values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law, despite all the difficulties, and sacrifice, that involves.”
