THE Prime Minister has said he thinks it is "wrong" that a Palestinian family have won the right to live in the UK under a scheme meant for Ukrainians.
A family of six seeking to flee Gaza were allowed to join their brother in Britain following an immigration judge ruling that the Home Office’s rejection of their application breached their human rights.
The family used the Ukraine Family Scheme in January 2024 on the basis that it best fitted their circumstances. The scheme allowed Ukrainians to come to the UK if they had a relative who was a British citizen or settled in the UK and closed in February 2024.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch raised the Palestinian family at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, claiming it was “wrong” that they are allowed to live in the UK.
“However, a family of six from Gaza have applied to live in Britain using this scheme, and a judge has now ruled in their favour.
“This is not what the scheme was designed to do. This decision is completely wrong. It cannot be allowed to stand.
“Is the Government planning to appeal on any points of law? And if so, which ones?”
Responding, the Prime Minister said: “Let me be clear, I do not agree with the decision, she's right, it's the wrong decision.”
Keir Starmer went on: “She hasn't quite done her homework because the decision in question was taken under the last government according to the legal framework.
“But let me be clear, it should be parliament that makes the rules on immigration. It should be the Government that makes the policy.
“That is the principle, and the Home Secretary is already looking at the legal loophole which we need to close in this particular case.”
Badenoch asked Starmer to change the law to prevent people using the same route to settle in the UK.
“The issue we are discussing today is about judicial decisions,” the Tory leader said. “We cannot be in a situation where we allow enormous numbers of people to exploit our laws in this way.
“There are millions of people all around the world in terrible situations. We cannot help them all, and we certainly cannot bring them all here.”
Starmer responded: “I've already said the Home Secretary's already got a team working on closing this loophole. We don't need to wait for that. We're getting on with that because we're taking control.
“They lost control of immigration. We had nearly a million people come into this country, had an open borders experiment. On a Monday of this week, they voted against increased powers to deal with those that are running the vile trade of people smuggling.
“Same old Tories, open borders, empty promises.”
