NO SANCTUARY IN BRITAIN

Late blogging today for utterly trivial reasons but just want to place on record I was appalled, but not surprised, this morning to hear on the Today programme that Britain's asylum system is "marred by inhumanity" and "not yet fit for purpose".
Last week, I read about the woman from Ghana who was suffering from cancer yet still deported - she died shortly afterwards.Small wonder that the Independent Asylum Commission says that the treatment of asylum seekers "falls seriously below the standards to be expected of a humane and civilised society".
In its interim report, the commission warns:"
"The system still denies sanctuary to some who genuinely need it and ought to be entitled to it; is not firm enough in returning those whose claims are refused; and is marred by inhumanity in its treatment of the vulnerable."
It also criticises the policy of "using destitution as a lever to encourage voluntary return", adding: "The conduct of some enforced returns is tainted with inhumanity and causes unnecessary distress to the individuals and communities concerned."
Border and Immigration Agency chief executive Lin Homer says. "I totally refute any suggestion that we treat asylum applicants without care and compassion,"
I'm afraid that, having heard many Labour backbenchers speaj out on this issue, I don't believe a word of it.
Today's allegations are particularly shameful as they come on the day that 24 hours after quaffing chamnpagne with the Queen the deeply distasteful Brown/Sarkozy "brotherhood" will reveal an even tighter clampdown on immigration. Moral compass? Enough to make one despair