Jarrow MP Kate Osborne responds to “disgusting” speech from Home Secretary Suella Braverman

Kate Osborne, MP for Jarrow, has hit out at a speech from Home Secretary Suella Braverman which called on the United Nations to make changes to the UN refugee convention.

Claiming the convention, which was established in 1951 was “not fit for the modern age”, Braverman said fearing discrimination for being gay or a woman should not be enough to qualify for refugee protection.

Laws had morphed from helping those fleeing persecution to those fearing bias, argued Braverman, who also represents her constituency of Fareham in Hampshire.

The speech, which also claimed multiculturalism has failed, has been singled out for criticism from refugee charities as well as the UN itself, which has said the Refugee Convention is “as relevant as ever” and has saved “millions of lives” across the globe.

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Jarrow MP Kate Osborne has also commented on Braverman’s comments, saying: “The latest in Suella Braverman and Sunak’s war on woke is ‘Being gay isn’t enough to qualify as a refugee.’

“It is absolutely disgusting to say this in the full knowledge that being gay is enough to result in persecution or even death in many places.

“This is just another attempt to vilify LGBTQ to distract from Tory mess, incompetence & corruption ahead of the General Election.”

According to the BBC, 1.5% of the 74,751 asylum claims in the UK last year cited sexual orientation as the basis for their claim.

The statement continues: “The people suffering at the hands of this Government are our communities, families that can’t afford to pay their energy and food bills, elderly living in cold homes, the millions of homelessness and those in ill health struggling to get the NHS support they need.

“We will not let them succeed into pitting us against each other.”

Osborne was elected as a Labour MP by Jarrow constituents in the 2019 General Election. Before this she was a Counsellor as part of North Tyneside Council.