All three parties exploiting the asylum issue, says UN
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Your support makes all the difference.The United Nations has accused Britain's three main political parties of exploiting the rise in the number of asylum-seekers and demanded talks with them in an attempt to cool the debate on the issue.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which criticised the Tories for making asylum a key issue in next month's local elections, yesterday widened its attack to include Labour and the Liberal Democrats amid a dispute over asylum policy.
"All politicians will exploit situations for political gain," said Hope Hanlan, the UNHCR's representative in the United Kingdom. "This has been seized on by various politicians and dragged to a very low level. It is designed to keep the issue hot until elections are over."
She added: "It is dangerous to seize the moral low ground. All the parties should stop this squabbling and trying to capitalise on an issue which brings abject misery on the part of those seeking asylum."
The UNHCR criticised the Government's response to the problem. It expressed concern about plans to build more high security detention centres and said it was wrong to hold people in them for a year or more. It also called for asylum-seekers to receive legal aid .
Ms Hanlan said the British public was "being force-fed with half-truths" on asylum and said the UNHCR would welcome a meeting with leaders to give them the facts.
The commissioner also urged the Government to run awareness campaigns before asylum-seekers were dispersed to new areas of the country so that they were not victimised.
Tougher penalties for lorry drivers who bring asylum-seekers into Britain appear to be working, the Home Office said last night.
The number of people caught in lorries dropped by 30 per cent to 176 in the first week since the £2,000 fine was introduced. Only four of the 30 lorries involved were driven by Britons, suggesting they were making more effective checks.
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