Liverpool MP Kim Johnson has today made a powerful intervention into the debate on immigration in the UK.

Ms Johnson, who says her family have been "shaped my migration", has joined forces with her fellow Labour MP Dawn Butler to against "hateful rhetoric" and "policies that seek to divide us."

The intervention comes four years to the day that 39 men and women from Vietnam were found suffocated in the back of a refrigerated lorry in Essex. Ms Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside, said she and Ms Butler are speaking out to honour the lives of those who died by calling for a change to a migration system that "kills people and dehumanises those who survive".

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The MPs have released their video intervention today, just days after the first migrants and asylum seekers returned to accommodation on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset as part of the government's controversial and chaotic asylum policy.

There were chaotic scenes as protesters tried to block coaches transporting asylum seekers to the barge, more than two months after it was evacuated when legionella bacteria was discovered in the water supply.

In the video, released on social media today, Ms Johnson said: "My family has been shaped by migration, probably yours too. We are truly connected to the world by our friends, neighbours and loved ones."

Ms Butler added: "Because of those connections, Britain will always be a destination for those that want a better or safer life. It is up to us in our country to set fair and realistic rules for how to manage migration."

Ms Johnson said: "Those rules aren't working and don't reflect the values that make our country great." Ms Butler added that the current system in the country "doesn't work and produces "huge amounts of suffering", stating that is has been used by some "as a wedge issue to divide us."

In the video, Ms Johnson added: "People are asking for our help. Let's see them as a child, woman or man instead of a threat."

The MPs have said that while not everyone who attempts to come to the UK can be helped, they believe everyone can be treated "justly and compassionately."

Concluding the video, Ms Johnson added: "Let's put kindness and common sense at the heart of our immigration system."

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