REFUGEE-rights campaigners, MPs and trade unionists vowed to continue the fight against the Tory government’s hostile immigration policies in an online event hosted by the Morning Star on Tuesday night.

The panel spoke about the dangers faced by asylum-seekers and migrant workers and new legislation that is threatening their rights and lives.

Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe described the government’s immigration plans as lacking basic humanity.

“Under this government, citizenship rights have been deliberately obscured, and deportation and removal targets have taken precedence,” she said.

“The coronavirus crisis has shown that the people who really keep our society ticking are not billionaires and the super-rich but nurses, carers, cleaners, checkout attendants and many more essential front-line workers.

“Yet these are the very people branded as low-skilled by the government’s immigration Bill. It fuels the fundamental hypocrisy of this government.”

Ms Webbe condemned ministers for applauding NHS workers in front of cameras while they legislate to “strip them of their dignity.”

She also criticised the “abhorrent” practice of indefinite detention, which has become routine in centres such as Yarl’s Wood and Napier barracks, and the NHS surcharge still faced by those migrating to Britain despite the pandemic.

“In the sixth-richest country in the world there is no reason why we cannot provide stability for everyone in this country,” Ms Webbe said.

“The government’s systemic and systematic mistreatment of migrants over the last decade, from the hostile environment to the Windrush scandal, is the ultimate proof they are undeserving of this unchecked power.

“We must oppose this callous agenda and stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with victims of this brutal discourse.”

TUC equality policy officer Lester Holloway spoke about the hypocrisy of the government in targeting workers and immigrants and pitting them against each other.

“They call the working class work-shy, and then they claim that immigrants are taking their jobs,” he said. “And they call immigrants a burden on our public services while slashing those same services through austerity.”

Mr Holloway praised trade unions’ record on standing up to the government’s attacks on Britain’s multi-ethnic working class and said that the struggle for racial equality and workers’ rights internationally went hand in hand.

Other speakers included Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants campaigns officer Mary Atkinson, human-rights lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie and union activist Roger McKenzie.

To watch a recording of the event, visit: mstar.link/Fightback.