On 8th July, as covered in The Guardian, over 300 organisations and 500 individuals on the frontline of providing support to people seeking asylum within our communities, wrote to the new Prime Minister to congratulate him on his election victory and to urge him to fix our broken asylum system and to protect, rather than punish, people seeking safety.
Six weeks later on 22nd August we at Asylum Matters sent him a follow-up letter as we had yet to receive a reply.
Today, we have written again to the Prime Minister to urge him to respond to the calls for a fair and humane asylum system made by hundreds of people in the asylum and refugee sector after his first 100 days in office. You can read the letter below:
Dear Prime Minister,
On 8th July, as covered in The Guardian, 300 organisations and 500 individuals on the frontline of providing support to people seeking asylum within our communities, wrote to you to congratulate you on your election victory and urge you to fix our broken asylum system and to protect, rather than punish, people seeking safety.
Six weeks later on 22nd August we at Asylum Matters sent you a follow-up letter as we had yet to receive a reply, reiterating the clear and tangible steps community organisations up and down the country were urging you to take so that people forcibly displaced from their homes can rebuild their lives in safety and dignity, find care and belonging in our communities, and participate meaningfully in our economy and society.
Today, on 11th October, we are writing to you again to ask you to respond to the hundreds of organisations and individuals across the UK who wrote to you upon your election victory in July with a blueprint for change.
We welcome the positive steps your government has taken; namely in scrapping the harmful Rwanda scheme, resuming the processing of asylum applications, and not renewing the Bibby Stockholm contract beyond 2025, and dropping plans for a further harmful accommodation camp at Scampton.
However, we are deeply concerned about the continuation of lives being lost in the Channel in the absence of safe routes, the ongoing harm to people living at RAF Wethersfield and the Napier Barracks, the Home Secretary’s plans for a large surge in enforcement and returns flights and an expansion of detention capacity by re-opening sites in Campsfield and Halsar that were previously mired by hunger strikes and suicide attempts.
We again urge your government not to engage in the hostile rhetoric towards people fleeing war and persecution that contributed to the violence on our streets over the summer, and to focus your efforts on delivering the practical steps we’ve outlined to fix our broken asylum system, not further harm people within it.
We are once again calling on you to urgently:
- Repeal the harmful Illegal Migration Act and Nationality and Borders Act in full, and enshrine in statute the right to seek asylum in the UK, in line with international law;
- Open safe routes for people seeking asylum to reach the UK so that people are not forced to risk their lives in the Channel, including providing visa routes, enabling families to reunite safely, and rebuilding refugee resettlement;
- Commit to ruling out offshore processing and ensure that people are able to have their cases processed in the UK in a fair and timely way;
- Resolve the legal aid crisis and ensure that everyone has access to good quality legal advice;
- House people seeking asylum in communities, not camps, and close down all institutional accommodation including barracks, barges, hotels and hostels which cause unnecessary lasting harm at an eye-watering cost to the taxpayer whilst community-based accommodation is available;
- Restore the right to work for people seeking asylum within six months of arrival so people can rebuild their lives in dignity and contribute £1.2 billion to the UK economy;
- Increase asylum support rates so people seeking safety are not locked into poverty and forced to choose between essentials like food and toiletries;
- End the use of immigration detention which restricts people’s freedom and liberty and causes immense harm to people’s physical and mental health;
- End the use of harmful rhetoric aimed at people seeking asylum, which contributes to a hostile environment which includes violence by far-right groups, and instead lead by example by promoting messages of compassion and welcome towards people seeking safety.
The violence on our streets over the summer, including attempts by far-right actors to burn down hotels with people seeking asylum trapped inside, and the additional lives lost in the Channel since July means it is ever more imperative for your government to build a compassionate refugee protection system that upholds human rights and ensures people seeking safety are treated with respect and dignity.
We look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Asylum Matters
