The UK government is facing more opposition to efforts to overhaul its asylum and immigration system.
Stumbling blocks include a clause which would make it a criminal offence for migrants to arrive in the UK without permission, and a call for asylum seekers to be allowed to work if no decision has been taken on their claim after six months.
The House of Commons passed the nationality and borders bill, which will enable asylum seekers to be processed abroad, and it was sent to the House of Lords, the UK's unelected upper chamber.
However, peers again rejected the proposals and sent them back to the Commons for significant amendments.
The Lords supported measures to safeguard people who rescue migrants from the sea from prosecution by permitting a reasonable excuse defence.
They also took steps to prevent treatment of asylum seekers dependent upon how they entered the UK.
Peers renewed demands to enable unaccompanied child asylum seekers in Europe to join relatives in the UK.
During the debate, the Rt Rev Paul Butler, the Bishop of Durham, was deeply critical of a move allowing the offshoring of asylum seekers, similar to centres used by Australia.
“When people arrive on our shores seeking protection, we have a responsibility to treat them as we would wish to be treated if we indeed had to flee for our lives,” he said.
“If we move them to other countries for the process of their asylum claims, I very much fear a blind eye will be turned to their treatment.
“The inhumanity of this part of the bill is my primary concern. There are, however, significant practical and financial concerns.”
Labour front-bencher Richard Rosser raised concerns that the proposals will not be cost effective.
“Campaigners claim it will cost less to put asylum seekers in the Ritz [hotel] than run an offshoring policy,” he said.
“But experience elsewhere, and not least for Australia, suggests that the cost of such a scheme would be considerable per person, not cost effective.”
Home Office Minister Susan Williams said the aim was to combat people smugglers.
“Asylum processing overseas is one part of a system-wide reform designed to break the business model of people smugglers and disincentivise unwanted behaviour,” she said.
Meanwhile, Conservative baroness Philippa Stroud pressed her call to allow asylum seekers to work if their claim was delayed.
“There is a danger that in our current system we are penalising these people by not allowing them to work and putting significant stumbling blocks in the way of their integration unnecessarily,” she said.
Refugee campaigner and Labour lord Alf Dubs, who left Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia as a child on the Kindertransport scheme in the late 1930s, renewed his demand for unaccompanied child asylum seekers in Europe to be allowed to join relatives in the UK.
“I believe that this would lessen the dangerous journeys that young people make to join their families. It might eliminate them altogether,” he said.
“If we believe that traffickers should not have opportunities, then providing a safe and legal route is surely the right thing to do.
“Family reunion is surely fundamental to what a civilised society should support.”
The defeat happened as rumours circulated that the UK is to announce plans to outsource the processing of asylum seekers to Rwanda, according to The Times.
It is understood Prime Minister Boris Johnson was prevented from announcing a trial of the plans last week on concerns from officials that the proposals are not ready.
“He wanted to go ahead with it but it’s just not ready,” a government source told The Times.
“It’s close, but there are still a lot of things in the balance.”
This year, 4,550 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats.
The specs: 2019 Mini Cooper
Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
