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SEAFARERS’ leaders have demanded the government dump legislation that will make crews criminals and risk life imprisonment if they rescue refugees at sea.
RMT, which represents mariners including those on merchant vessels and ferries, said the proposed new law, part of the government’s Nationality and Borders Bill, is a “morally toxic piece of legislation.”
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Quite simply, the government is legislating to criminalise seafarers for saving lives at sea.
“The extreme measures in the Nationality and Borders Bill would lead to more deaths, people trafficking and persecution in UK waters, seafarers thrown in jail, and bring shame on the UK’s position as a leading maritime nation.
“The government must take these provisions out of this morally toxic piece of legislation.”
The legislation is also opposed by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which says its volunteer crews will defy the new law if it is enacted, despite a threat of imprisonment.
