The name that says it…

Editorials

The name that says it all: the illegal immigration bill

So it’s come to this: the illegal immigration bill - a name with a double meaning that itself encapsulates the mess we are in. Extraordinarily, the Government is proposing legislation that carries an admission that it might be against the law. The UK has arrived at this remarkable juncture after years of deliberate cultivation of a hostile environment, disregard of evidence, use of obfuscatory and inflammatory language, and political grandstanding. In 2002 there were more than 103,000 claims for asylum. Last year the number was less than 75,000. So there…

So it’s come to this: the illegal immigration bill - a name with a double meaning that itself encapsulates the mess we are in. Extraordinarily, the Government is proposing legislation…

Our complicated visa system is highly exploitative

You want to settle in the UK? The government website, Check if you can get indefinite leave to remain, makes the process look clear and straightforward. But anyone having tried to navigate the visa application and settlement process can tell you otherwise. They know that you risk drowning in a maze-like, expensive, time-consuming bureaucracy. It is such an unreasonable, malignant, costly procedure that at a recent Migrant Voice conference, ‘A better deal for migrants’, a senior union official, Wilf Sullivan, the Race Equality Officer at the Trades Union Congress, called for “a…

You want to settle in the UK? The government website, Check if you can get indefinite leave to remain, makes the process look clear and straightforward. But anyone having tried to…

Looking ahead: Our plans for the new year

Last year ended on a distressing note, with the grotesque plan to despatch several hundred people seeking asylum in Britain to a small, poor country in Central Africa still to be decided by the courts (though the High Court ruled that the Government’s selection of the first consignment of people to be airfreighted out of UK had been conducted improperly). Looking ahead, even darker clouds are gathering as political upheavals around the world - not least in Ukraine – lead to further large-scale movements of people fleeing conflict and persecution. Beyond…

Last year ended on a distressing note, with the grotesque plan to despatch several hundred people seeking asylum in Britain to a small, poor country in Central Africa still to…

Stop blaming, start building: a new migrant labour policy

The government needs to clarify its position on the use of migrant workers, which is a mess. Two aspects of policy need change, quickly: overall attitude and everyday practices. Overall, immigration policy must explicitly recognise the individual and equal humanity of individuals who come to these shores. Migrants must not be labelled and treated as aliens. Migrants are human beings with lives, feelings, and families, and their presence benefits society as a whole. Secondly, policy should be based on principles and need, not numbers. Setting a target number plucked out…

The government needs to clarify its position on the use of migrant workers, which is a mess. Two aspects of policy need change, quickly: overall attitude and everyday practices. Overall,…

Time to change the story

As the merry-go-round of government continues, with prime ministers and home secretaries dropping in and out of office every few weeks, the migrants who are helping keep the country running continue to face steepling problems. The main newspaper and broadcasting headlines are about those at the helm, while those in the engine room get less attention. For example, here is a random selection of stories affecting asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants, who arrive here in search of safety, work, education or a different way of life. Asylum seekers: Home Office accused…

As the merry-go-round of government continues, with prime ministers and home secretaries dropping in and out of office every few weeks, the migrants who are helping keep the country running…

Memo to our new PM: Migrant issues need migrant voices

As our new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has a chance to make a difference to the lives of every migrant in the UK. It is up to him, now, to set the country on a new course by framing migrants and migration as a powerful, positive force for good, as a crucial contributor not just to the health and care services, but to sport, hospitality, education, to overall economic and cultural vitality and growth. The public debate on migration in the last few years has been exceedingly negative. The conversation…

As our new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has a chance to make a difference to the lives of every migrant in the UK. It is up to him, now, to…

An open letter to the next Prime Minister

Dear Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, We are very concerned that throughout the Conservative Party leadership election hustings, including the media interviews and briefings, migration has been almost entirely absent. Equally regrettably, the few occasions migration has been mentioned have been couched in negative language. Both of you have expressed support for the plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, and one of you even wants to extend the scheme to other countries, even though the legality of the scheme has not yet been decided and packing people off…

Dear Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, We are very concerned that throughout the Conservative Party leadership election hustings, including the media interviews and briefings, migration has been almost entirely absent.…

A new PM must end the hostility towards migrants

Britain is in flux and so is Europe: another new prime minister in the UK - the third in three years, an election 30 months away at most, the effects of Brexit still impacting politically and economically, a major war in Europe with more national boundaries threatened and millions of people already displaced. Times are changing faster than governments can handle and certainly faster than the prime ministerial hopefuls appear to have realised. There’s rarely been greater need for tolerance, cohesion, stability and inclusive leadership. Yet the country continues to…

Britain is in flux and so is Europe: another new prime minister in the UK - the third in three years, an election 30 months away at most, the effects…

Drop the Rwanda deal

The grounding of the first deportation flight to Rwanda at the 11th hour was a win for justice. No one was deported: the asylum seekers are still in the UK, where they should be. Still, it was a very precarious win and we can’t let our guard down, as the government has announced that it will challenge the decision, determined to push through no matter what. Let’s be clear about what the Rwanda plan really is. A variety of public figures have called it “appalling.” 25 bishops and archbishops described…

The grounding of the first deportation flight to Rwanda at the 11th hour was a win for justice. No one was deported: the asylum seekers are still in the UK,…

10 years of hostility must end

In May 2012 the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, ushered in the “really Hostile Environment”, aimed at making life impossible for undocumented migrants. In the ensuing decade it has been spread like a cancer, contaminating everything and everyone it touches - including all of us who live here, together with our laws, politics, media, culture and values. Indeed, perhaps no other policy in living memory has left such a malign mark, a stain like an oil slick. By design or consequence, it is racist, xenophobic, immoral, illegal, unfair, punishing, divisive,…

In May 2012 the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, ushered in the “really Hostile Environment”, aimed at making life impossible for undocumented migrants. In the ensuing decade it has been…

The name that says it all: the illegal immigration bill

Editorials