Will the new asylum laws help?

Britain's asylum laws are to be given a "radical and fundamental reform," according to Home Secretary, David Blunkett.

In a statement to the House of Commons, the home secretary announced that the highly unpopular voucher scheme will be replaced by new "smart cards" containing fingerprints and photographs of asylum seekers.

There will also be a revamp of the policy of dispersing refugees around the UK, with the creation of a series of reception centres, each with 3,000 places.

The current system has seen many refugees placed in housing estates, leading to unrest among communities with little previous exposure to immigrants.

The shake-up has already been welcomed by the Conservatives and the TGWU union - one of the fiercest critics of the voucher scheme, which it called demeaning.

Do you agree with the government's plans? If so, are reception centres the right solution? What should a country do to make its asylum process more effective?

Swapping one handout for another will do nothing to improve the situation

Tim Green, England

Swapping one handout for another will do nothing to improve either the situation of asylum seekers or their negative image in the eyes of the British public. The only way asylum seekers can be given their dignity back is if the government finds a way to process their claims quicker and let them work for a living, which is what they want to do anyway.
Tim Green, England

There is nothing wrong with having an ID card for everybody, like they do in other European countries, unless one has something to hide. That is why the UK is getting all these people. Once in the UK, it is simple to go underground.
Gazelle Anne, Switzerland

How are the police (or indeed anyone else) going to know whether people should be carrying ID cards or not? Will they just ask them? Another foolproof government scheme.
Pat, UK

Every last one of these initiatives will be challenged by the liberal elite

Ralph Snape, England

This new raft of legislation does nothing to solve the fundamental immigration problems which beset this country and which have been compounded by the liberal attitude of this government and the adoption of the EU human rights legislation into British law. Every last one of these initiatives can and will be challenged by the liberal elite and we will be no further forward than the existing situation. This legislation will do nothing to curb the two thirds of all illegal immigrants who disappear into the black economy. Once again there is no substance to the spin and it will cost us all even more in taxation.
Ralph Snape, England

I believe that the world is big enough for all people, and compassion should be shown to all those poor women and children in desperate situations everywhere in the world. God bless them all.
Elmira Abdullah, Istanbul, Turkey

Why don't we look at what our European partners are doing?

Gareth B, UK

Tory policies, once trounced and humiliated, are on the New Labour agenda, despite the fact that anyone who agreed with them at that time was deemed racist. How strange. Although agreement must be given to these changes that are intended to more effectively handle asylum seekers, why aren't we looking at our European partners to determine what they are doing? We all know the laws of asylum and what a seeker is entitled to do, but our so-called European partners willingly fund their transport through their countries and simply point them west to the UK. How convenient for us to pick up the tab.
Gareth B, UK

The voucher system should be changed because with these vouchers asylum seekers can't buy the things they want. I think cash system will help more.
Honey, Southall, UK

An asylum seeker, by definition, is someone seeking safe haven from tyranny, oppression and death in their own country. Having to choose between this and having to carry a small piece of plastic that proves you're allowed to be here seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me.
Lith, UK

Now that Labour finally recognises that the immigration policies suggested by the Conservative Party are necessary (rather than dubbing such radical solutions as racist) - why does it not implement it on a larger scale? It would ensure faster processing for asylum seekers, rapid ejection of bogus applicants and more importantly safety for the genuine.
CP, UK

The Government needs to start listening to the people it's supposed to serve

Michael Entill, UK

The laws will help, but they don't go far enough. Britain cannot keep taking in economic migrants indefinitely. Where does it stop? When the indigenous population becomes a minority? The majority of people in this country have had enough, but their voices are drowned out by the pro-immigration media. The Government needs to start listening to the people it's supposed to serve, and to put the needs and wishes of the ordinary British people first.
Michael Entill, UK

Everybody seems much exercised by the peripheral issues of vouchers and dispersal. All Blunkett has done is remove a petty annoyance. The main attractants of no-deportation and no-detention remain. Now Blunkett has added work permits! Where's the message in that? The real issue is exclusion of undesirables seeking to re-invent their pasts at the expense of the natives. Genuine asylum seekers will already have claimed it in adjacent countries. What is needed is more immigration officers and an effective coast guard.
Frank Jones, UK

UK immigration policy is a mess

Josh, USA

I think the UK has done more than its fair share of accepting asylum seekers and immigrants in general, especially from a certain region. UK immigration policy is a mess and it needs to have targeted immigration for people with skills that can help its economy, like North American and European countries do.
Josh, USA

I agree that the asylum laws need to be updated. The problem now is that the government is taking more interest in asylum seekers than our own people. I agree with an ID card system for asylum seekers, but not for British citizens.
Adrian, England

Iain is right: these proposals are clearly intended as a "trial run" of a compulsory national identity card. As such they are dangerous and must be resisted. Politicians must be made to realise that the British people will never accept compulsory identity cards, no matter what tricks Government uses in an attempt to justify them.
Trevor Mendham, England

In the long-term these new laws will just lead to ID cards being issued to the public at large, despite all the evidence showing that the cards will do nothing to stop people from acting illegally and will cost a lot of money to set up and administer. I don't want to appear over dramatic, but this is just another slide on the slippery slope to a police state.
Iain, UK

Isn't this exactly the same scheme that was proposed by the Conservatives at the last election?

AJR, UK

What a bunch of hypocrites we have as our government. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this exactly the same scheme that was proposed by the Conservatives at the last election? The same one that was attacked by left-wing groups for being "racist" and "an infringement of human rights"? The same one that was, in fact, thoroughly lambasted by the Labour Party? I don't disagree with the scheme, which should help provide a short-term solution to the asylum problems we are experiencing at present due to shoddy legislation. However, I am just astounded at the way in which the Conservatives were demonised over their proposals before, whereas now the government has taken the same line without opposition from the lefties who all too often seem to be taking over.
AJR, UK

Should asylum seekers not be processed at their "first safe haven"? In other words, if they come from Afghanistan should the countries surrounding Afghanistan and other countries of the Middle East not look after them? The oil rich and spacious Gulf states are a prime example. The UK could subsidise these countries thus keeping people close to their homes and cultures and also allowing them to return home once the reason for their exodus has passed. My personal impression is that many asylum seekers in the UK are here purely for economic reasons and not because of persecution.
Andy, London, England

It is obvious that immigration from the world's hotspots should be more controlled nowadays. Proper means of identification are required from most westerners, so at some point there will be some of those implemented on would-be refugees.
Peter, Finland

More than the creation of new legislation, it is the implementation of these laws that will safeguard the interests of the nation. The asylum seekers swear to abide by all the rules governing the fundamental principles of democracy and to respect freedom and justice. The moment they are granted asylum, some of them tend to forget as quickly as possible the basic conditions laid down for their becoming bona fide refugees. At this juncture, personal freedom will be of paramount importance, even though the state may continue to suffer in the long run.
Mahesh Chandra Somani, Finland

The real question is what the decisive factor will be in determining the reason for the person seeking asylum. There's no point in opening the floodgates to people fleeing their countries if nothing is done to correct those problems. There should be enough resources on this planet for all mankind to be able to live in the country of their birth with the basic benefits that all affluent countries enjoy.
Jacky, UK

I do not know why "other" migrants are welcome and asylum seekers are not. This policy encourages brain drain in developing countries and hence creates more problems for those countries.
Khalid, India

New asylum laws can't be any worse than no asylum laws.
Martin, England

As I appear to be supporting, via my hard-earned taxes, five asylum-seekers a year, then yes, I would like them to be processed in a detention centre, rather than squandering my cash. If it is decided that they have a good reason to be allowed to stay in the UK, so be it. If they haven't, then they should be deported. My only reservations are the fact that they will be free to come and go from the centres.
Sue Hudson, England

If Britain is going to go charging in to countries it is only fair that it should shoulder some of the burden of refugees

Sobia, Oxford, UK

I don't understand why the 'mass exodus from Afghanistan' is posing dilemmas for the UK government. Pakistan, itself a developing nation with crippling foreign debts etc, is under intense pressure from all corners of the world to accept yet more refugees on top of the 2 million or so it already harbours. Whereas countries such as Australia turn away just a boatful of such refugees. If Britain is going to go charging in to countries with no well-thought-out strategies for the protection of the civilians then it is only fair that it should shoulder some of the burden of refugees produced from such conflicts.
Sobia, Oxford, UK

In response to Sobia from Oxford, Pakistan is a huge country, and the people are familiar with Afghans - it is as if Austrians were moving to Germany, they could settle and integrate with little assistance. Britain is a small country, already near overpopulation. One thing that everyone seems to forget when asylum seekers are mentioned is that when they come to Britain they are not escaping oppressive regimes. They have already escaped and are living in France. International law says that an asylum seeker must claim asylum in the first safe country, so why is Britain shouldering the world's burden, again?
Guy Hammond, England

There is not enough good quality housing in the social rented sector, and this is bound to create a situation where resentment will breed. The 'right to buy' policy favoured by recent governments has obviously left local authorities with the least desirable stock and up until now, the onus has been on local authorities to house asylum seekers. Placing a lot of people with special needs, which asylum seekers essentially are, in areas which already suffer from social stigmatisation was never going to be an easy option and the transitional reception centres may be an short term alternative, but they do not address the long term underlying problem of not enough decent social housing.
Alan Dean, Scotland

We've been far too lax in enforcing the laws we set up

Victor D, Netherlands

Immigration of any kind needs to be strictly controlled. We've been far too lax in enforcing the laws we set up and too many undesirable elements slip through the holes in the legal maze - not to mention out the back door. Given the sheer number of apparent asylum seekers in the world, what would be the end result if we (EU) take them all in? People do tend to bring their culture with them!
Victor D., Amsterdam, Netherlands

At least the Government seem to have recognised that both dispersal and vouchers are policies that make asylum seekers into targets. But actually the best thing they could do is to invest seriously in decent low-cost housing; if there was enough to go round, there'd be far less ill-feeling and racism.
Ben Drake, York, UK

"Communities with little previous exposure to immigrants" - surely a euphemism for those who are still racist, NOT because they are bad people, but because they have not had the opportunity to recognise and thereafter confront their own racism. America's favoured green card has always been the dollar bill. Are we being asked to reject the next round of torture victims because we have enough janitors already? This constant mixing of the terms "asylum seeker" and other "immigrant" is damaging this debate.
C Edwards, UK

These changes will be welcomed by all, including the genuine applicant.

Arif Sayed, Dubai,UAE

The government would be right in introducing the reforms - including more reception centres, which act as a halfway house while the government processes the application for asylum. This will ensure the proper tracking of individuals, and that all applications are dealt with fairly and within a given timeframe. While there will be some who will argue that their personal freedom is restricted, the new system will reduce the abuse, by some, of the liberal English laws and go towards ensuring security to the ordinary citizens by keeping out unacceptable and undesired applicants. The United Kingdom is one of the worlds' most liberal countries but everything has its limit and therefore these changes will be welcomed by all, including the genuine applicant.
Arif Sayed, Dubai, UAE

Holding camps are a very good idea, and if they improve the lot of the genuine asylum seeker so much the better. Their main function however must be to weed out the timewasters who have nothing else in mind but gaining a free ride at the UK Taxpayer's expense.
Shaun, Teignmouth UK

It is possible that the new asylum laws may help, but all too often we have seen the current ones undermined. A "Green Card" may be alright, but the whole UK population will need ID cards of some sort (long overdue). Even this will fall down as there is a black market in labour where for a very low wage, no questions will be asked, whereas the card holder would be entitled to a minimum wage.
Hazel, UK