David Forbes

In 1973 I graduated in Spanish and French at Queens, Oxford. Originally from Greater Birmingham, I am a "churches" person, attempting to live out the social gospel in both the Anglican and the Quaker fellowships, and also having an affinity with the Catholic world through my languages. I developed interfaith awareness during a decade I spent in Glasgow, where I was befriended inter alia by a Sikh "Granthi". I returned to Birmingham and married my Scottish wife, Barbara, there. I became active in the Anglican initiative, "Faith in the City" and was a Community Worker at the time of the Handsworth riots. As a mixed heritage person, I aligned myself with the Caribbean protesters and - even more so -with their families and children. In the first half of the 1990s Barbara and I were the Joint Representatives of the Quaker Council for European Affairs in Brussels and we travelled extensively throughout post-Iron curtain Europe. Since 1998 I have been involved professionally in all matters relating to refugees to this country and the various conflicts in their areas of origin. In this field, Barbara and I set up the Community Interest Company, "Lifeline Options". Belatedly in October 2019 I was approved at the top level of asylum advisers (OISC 3) and became a fully recognised as a pro bono Tribunal presenter after years of activity as a MacKenzie Friend . Since October 2018 I have added an Irish passport to my British one. I also qualify for - but do not have - a Jamaican passport.

The Immigration Plan and the ‘Sovereign Borders’ Bill

As the UK Government prepares to announce its new Sovereign Borders Bill in parliament, David Forbes argues that the very idea of ‘sovereign borders’ is false and ignores both the reality of international legal commitments and the disastrous precedent of Australia’s flirtation with the concept.