The 44th G7 summit was held on 8-9 June in Quebec, Canada. The controversial discussions involved the United State’s announcement that it would push for the reinstatement of Russia in the context of G8, followed by Italy’s voicing its support for this proposal.
Theresa May urged the member states to maintain sanctions against Russia in light of its failure to fully implement the Minsk Agreements in Ukraine. She reaffirmed that the G7 is a forum designed for “close allies with close history and values to discuss issues related to the prosperity and the security of our people”.
On the other hand, the Home Secretary has requested that Theresa May roll back the “hostile environment” policy in the UK. Speaking with various publications, the Prime Minister rejected three times the call to rethink the current policies to curb illegal immigration. Moreover, she insisted that she has the public’s support in her policy of making the NHS, landlords, employers and banks act as “border guards” and undertake immigration checks.
The new Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has different views regarding the “hostile environment” however, and promised to rethink the system after the Windrush scandal where individuals had been denied jobs, healthcare and even detained or deported. He vowed to introduce a “fairer, more compassionate immigration system” and to use the advantage of being new to the job to understand mistakes made by the Home Office in the past.
As a starting point, Sajid Javid has put a stop to one aspect of the “hostile environment” by suspending bank checks to close the accounts of illegal immigrants in order to force them to leave the country.
It is clear that the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister face difficulties in agreeing on the direction of current immigration policies, which will only cause more turmoil for many whose current immigration status in the UK remains unclear.
Gherson has over 30 years of experience in assisting with various immigration matters. Should you wish to speak to a member of our team, please do not hesitate to contact us.
The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please don’t hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.
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