Migrants And The Mediterranean Search And Rescue

EDM number 477 in 2014-15, proposed by George Galloway on 05/11/2014.
Categorised under the topics of Asylum, Emergency services, Immigration and Western Europe.

That this House utterly condemns the shameful decision by the Government not to support European search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean; notes that 400 migrants a day are pulled from the waters and that at least 2,500 more are known to have drowned so far this year while many more deaths go unrecorded; points out that Britain was militarily involved in some of the countries from which refugees flee, like Iraq and Libya; considers the justification given by the Minister of State at the Foreign Office, Baroness Anelay of St Johns, that funding rescue missions might 'pull' migrants into attempting crossings is both wrong and morally indefensible; believes that the real reason is the toxic nature of the current immigration debate fostered by UKIP which has made the concept of EU rescue patrols politically unacceptable; and calls on the Government to reverse this inhumane and contemptible decision which has placed party politics over the deaths of desperate people and join with other EU countries in saving thousands of men, women and children from drowning at sea.

This motion has been signed by a total of 10 MPs.