The Lib Dems will continue to push for asylum seekers to have the right to work, Jardine tells Left Foot Forward
Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine has called on Labour to adopt her party’s policy allowing asylum seekers to work, rather than “fall in behind Reform”.
Speaking to Left Foot Forward at the Lib Dem autumn conference, Jardine said the Labour government had “shown a willingness” to take on some Lib Dem ideas but added: “I wish they would take on more of what we’ve said about asylum seekers.”
“I don’t think it helps for everybody to fall in behind reform and say ‘oh immigration is awful’, it’s the immigration system which is broken and we haven’t dealt with it properly for 10 years,” Jardine said.
Jardine argued that the government needs to offer an alternative, not just “a milder version” of what Reform says.
In May, MPs rejected a Lib Dem amendment to the immigration bill that would have allowed asylum seekers to work after three months, but Jardine said the party will continue to push for it.
She highlighted the country’s “employment gaps,” noting that many care home workers in her constituency came to the UK on student visas and cannot stay because care work salaries don’t meet visa income requirements.
“The vast majority of applications for care home jobs are coming from people on visas,” she said. “If we lose them, how is our care home sector going to operate?”.
She also noted that the country doesn’t want the expense of putting people in hotels, but “if they [asylum seekers] were working they would be contributing, rather than the taxpayers”.
Labour’s performance
Jardine also commented on Labour’s early performance in government, stating: “I don’t envy them because they’re taking over in incredibly difficult circumstances,” but added that she didn’t think the party realised how difficult it would be moving into government.
She emphasised the importance of political parties listening to public, and says this is something the Lib Dems continue to do.
“You have to listen to people and then take that back,” she said, “That’s another thing Farage is playing into, he says ‘oh they’re not listening to you’, well actually yes we are”.
Asked whether Lib Dem leader Ed Davey listens to his MPs, she said: “Let’s put it this way if I didn’t think so I wouldn’t say so because that would be the way to guarantee he didn’t listen.”
She added that Davey has “come up through the party like the rest of us, so it’s kind of ingrained in us to listen”.
Jardine’s sacking from the front bench
Until July, Christine Jardine served as the Lib Dem spokesperson for women, equalities, and Scotland. She was removed from the front bench by party leader Ed Davey after voting against a Tory amendment calling for a review of benefits access for foreign nationals and people with mental health issues.
Davey had instructed MPs to abstain, but Jardine voted against the motion in honour of her late husband, who had bipolar disorder.
“I thought I’m going to get in trouble for this, I’ll get my wrist slapped, but I thought I had more capital in the bank than that,” she said.
Jardine added that she and Davey remain on good terms, with him calling her afterwards. “He felt he didn’t have any option, and I felt that I didn’t have any option,” she said.
On whether there are any avenues open for her to return to the front bench, she said: “I doubt it’ll happen, it would be a pleasant surprise but I don’t think it’ll happen.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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