How there is a ‘lack of understanding’ of the plight of asylum seekers

Waseem Nazir, who founded Batley Law in 2018, believes calls for asylum seekers to seek refuge in the first country they reach are unfair.

The Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill aims to criminalise asylum seekers who arrive in the UK without a visa if they’ve passed through another safe country along the way.

Mr Nazir told The Yorkshire Post: “If somebody has travelled through Europe to get to the UK then they will be penalised for that because they should have claimed asylum in another country because other countries in Europe are deemed safe.

“On first reading that seems a sensible approach. If you’re fleeing from persecution, why wouldn’t you stay in Italy? Why would you come all the way to the UK? But if you look at the realities on the ground, the reason why some people continue their journeys is because they are street homeless in Italy.

“The reason why some of these people continue their journeys is perhaps they have got family members in the UK. Even in a crisis we make decisions that are in human nature.

“If, God forbid, my house was on fire, I wouldn’t necessarily go to the house next door. I might go to a few houses down the street because I know the person and I might feel more comfortable in their house. In a crisis we all make decisions.”

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: “Through the Nationality and Borders Bill, we will ensure a firm but fair system, helping those in genuine need while tackling people smuggling gangs.” Immigration is a “political hot potato”, Mr Nazir says, with Governments wanting to be seen to be taking a tough stance. This has led to ever changing laws and processes.

He says that the current febrile atmosphere around immigration is “really sad” on a human level with the numbers of asylum seekers “relatively small” in the UK.

The 36-year-old said Legal Aid had “significantly reduced” in what he labels “the legacy of austerity”.

He added: “It means that you only really get Legal Aid for an asylum case. Anything peripheral, anything related to that is not covered by Legal Aid so people are expected to fund it themselves.

“What it has also meant is that there are fewer providers, i.e firms offering Legal Aid in this area.

“In the field we have advice deserts. There are large parts of the country where there are no firms offering legal aid advice in this area.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Further support can be accessed through the Exceptional Case Funding Scheme and we are expanding legal aid provision even further.

“We keep market capacity under constant review and take action where gaps arise.”

Home is where the heart is

Batley Law specialises in asylum, human rights and immigration work. The firm has 10 full-time staff. It is named after Waseem Nazir’s home town of Batley. He hopes to move to offices in the town centre in the future.

Mr Nazir said: “We’re also looking at opening offices in East Yorkshire. Hopefully that will be in the next three months. Then what we would like to do is have offices in all major areas of Yorkshire.”

He wanted to be a teacher but was advised at school to set his sights higher. He has, however, turned his hand to lecturing in law in recent years.

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James Mitchinson