This is how your Sussex MP voted on the government's Illegal Migration Bill it says will 'stop the boats'

The Illegal Migration Bill passed in its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday night (March 13) with 312 votes for and 250 against.

The legislation has been at the centre of a controversy that blew up when Match of the Day host Gary Lineker called it an ‘immeasurably cruel policy’ on Twitter in language ‘that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the ‘30s’.

He was taken off air for the weekend, but after talks with BBC bosses Mr Lineker will return to his presenting duties.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said it was ‘completely unfair’ people who travel through safe countries then come to the UK ‘illegally and abuse our asylum laws to avoid removal’.

She argued that the new laws would make it clear the only route to the UK was a ‘safe and legal route’ and for those who came to the country ‘illegally’ would ‘not be able to claim asylum or build a life here’.

The Conservatives have used the phrase ‘stop the boats’ and say they will remove the incentive for people to risk their lives through dangerous crossings, with anyone arriving this way detained and ‘swiftly removed to their home country if safe, or another safe third country, such as Rwanda, where they will be supported to rebuild their lives’.

But many have been critical of government policy. More than 320 organisations have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to drop the bill. It said: “As charities, unions and community organisations that stand with refugees, and people with lived experience of seeking asylum and being refugees, we are horrified by the proposed legislation that shames this Government and marks the UK as running roughshod over human rights.”

Amongst the Conservative MPs to vote for the bill on Monday night were: Caroline Ansell (Eastbourne), Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West), Maria Caulfield (Lewes), Mims Davies (Mid Sussex), Nusrat Ghani (Wealden), Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton), Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs), Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye), Gillian Keegan (Chichester), Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham), Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle),

Jeremy Quin (Horsham) and Henry Smith (Crawley).

Green MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas voted against as did Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton Kemptown).

Hove’s Labour MP Peter Kyle is not recorded as having voted.