The subject of asylum seekers and refugees has been dominating the headlines recently with demonstrations outside asylum hotels, including in Leeds.
Many people have expressed their concerns about the situation, but there’s a lot of misinformation out there, so what are the facts?
Let’s start with the terminology. In the UK, an asylum seeker is someone who is the process of claiming asylum and waiting for a decision. A refugee is someone who has been granted asylum and has the right to remain in the country.
Worldwide there were 79.5 million refugees last year, most of who are taken in by neighbouring countries. The UK took 20,339, or just 0.026% of that total. Britain is said to be a “soft touch”, but we take in fewer than most European countries – Germany, France and Sweden take two or three times as many. People mainly come here because they have family here or they speak English.
The people crossing the channel in small boats are often said to be illegal, but it’s not illegal to cross the channel and legally you have the right to claim asylum in any country you wish, that is signed up to the 1951 Refugee Convention. That convention, by the way, was passed into UK law by Winston Churchill and came out of the upheaval and displacement of the Second World War.
People cross the channel in small boats because there isn’t an alternative route to claim asylum in the UK. The government could stop the dangerous crossings and put the gangs out of business by creating safe routes and issuing visas.
According to government statistics about half of asylum seekers’ claims are granted at the first decision, and so become refugees with the right to remain in the UK and the right to work. Many more are granted asylum on appeal. So most people arriving are coming here with a strong case to be here, are grateful and contribute back to society through work (and therefore tax) and voluntary work.
Asylum seekers do not receive mobile phones and are not living the life of riley in hotels as some would have you believe. Some asylum seekers are given phones by charities, but not by the government. ‘Asylum hotels’ have been stripped of the finery you or I would expect, food is basic not fine dining, cleaning services are reduced to a minimum and rooms are stacked with bunk beds.
Asylum seekers are not allowed to work while their claim is determined, which can take years. They receive £49.18 per week or £9.95 if their accommodation provides meals. They are not allowed to apply for social housing and even if they are given refugee status this doesn’t give them any priority on the waiting list.
So if there isn’t a problem with asylum seekers, why are people taking to the streets? Many of us face huge problems in the UK. There’s a housing crisis, NHS waiting lists, the police, courts and prisons are underfunded and on the point of collapse, the list goes on. But the question is whose fault is all this?
Asylum seekers have not stopped council houses being built, or shut hospital wards. The truth is that successive governments have pursued austerity policies, cutting public spending to the bone. An unfair tax system means that the richest are getting richer and the rest of us are getting poorer and the safety net of public services is so full of holes that we all suffer.
The organisation Hope Not Hate have identified many of the individuals who are organising the protests. They have a long association with extreme far right groups, violence and domestic abuse. It suits these people to blame asylum seekers and to spread the myths, spread discord.
South Leeds has a long and proud history of welcoming migrant communities whether they are Irish, South Asian, or Europeans. We stand together in the face of prejudice. We sent Oswald Mosely’s Blackshirts packing in the 1930s and we saw off the National Front in the 1970s. Now is a time to stand united and say “refugees are welcome here.”
Photo: campaigners at the recent West Indian Carnival
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