Shabana Mahmood’s announcement that asylum seekers to this country will be forced to pay £10,000 before they can settle permanently raises more questions than it answers.
The Home Secretary’s plan, which she claims will ‘save’ the asylum system, was compared to the student loans scheme, and isn’t expected to earn a huge amount of money for the public purse.
So it isn’t about saving cash.
Not least because if the government is so concerned about the costs of housing people who are awaiting an asylum decision, they wouldn’t be hosting them in military barracks.
If they were so desperate to recoup living costs during this time, they wouldn’t continue to block asylum seekers from working to support themselves.
If they really wanted to reduce the division that poisons the immigration debate and bring communities together, they wouldn’t be extending the period where people are in limbo.
Everything is changing, all the time
Cut through political noise and understand how the Westminster chaos actually affects your life with Metro’s politics newsletter Alright, Gov? Sign up here.
The answer, of course, is that the cost isn’t the point – and neither is the impact on our communities. I believe that for this government, the point is to demonstrate cruelty no matter what the cost, human or financial.
And if our new Prime Minister has any sense, he’ll reverse course immediately.
Keir Starmer has come a long way from his pledge to build ‘an immigration system based on compassion and dignity’ – over the disastrous two years he’s been in government.
The outgoing Prime Minister and his colleagues have consistently plumbed lower depths of performative cruelty in an ill-fated and poorly judged attempt to win back Reform voters.
From dehumanising videos of people being deported in handcuffs to Starmer’s ‘Island of Strangers’ speech, with its echoes of Enoch Powell, this government has lurched from one desperate bid to look ‘tough’ on migration to another.
And after two years, what has it got them? No higher poll ratings for the deeply unpopular prime minister, and no improvement in the public’s view of how the government is tackling migration.
That’s just another side effect of the government’s deeply damaging slide towards legitimising Reform’s toxic and divisive narrative, pinning the blame for all this country’s problems on migration.
Mahmood herself has been one of the leading voices on this — it was mere months ago she was reported to be planning to seize jewellery from asylum seekers to pay for costs.
And now she has confirmed that those seeking asylum will have to hand over a five-figure fee before they are allowed to settle.
It doesn’t have to be this way, but I don’t have much hope for the man who will soon have the power to change things.
What do you think about the proposal to require asylum seekers to pay £10,000 to settle?
-
I support the proposal as it could deter illegal immigration.
-
I oppose the proposal as it seems inhumane.
-
I have mixed feelings and need more information.
This week Andy Burnham, widely expected to be the next Prime Minister, started to set out his plans for change.
Across the country, voters are still waiting with bated breath to see whether he will make good on his promise to govern differently, or if we’ll end up with more of the same – just with a different accent.
But if Burnham is going to change course, he must put a halt to this government’s dangerous anti-migrant slant.
Only a full reset on rhetoric, and the implementation of a genuinely fair and managed migration system, can begin to heal the deep wounds that right wing politicians have torn in our communities over the last decade, aided by governments too cowardly to stand up to them.
So far, the signs aren’t good. Burnham is understood to back Mahmood’s planned reforms, and pledged to expand the use of detention centres.
But if the new MP for Makerfield has any sense at all he’ll see that this approach has taken the Labour party on a path to nowhere.
And if he’s looking for ideas on a better approach – the Green Party has plenty.
Safe and managed routes for people to seek asylum here without making dangerous journeys. Breaking up the failing Home Office so that migration is no longer treated as a crime.
And allowing asylum seekers to work – so that they can support themselves and become part of our communities.
It’s these common sense solutions, not more performative cruelty, that will fix our broken migration system.
Andy Burnham should take note.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk.
Share your views in the comments below.