Immigration Minister Chris Philp is appearing in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) today to share oral evidence on Channel crossings, migration and asylum-seeking routes.
This comes just days after Home Secretary Priti Patel signed yet another deal with France offering more money for policing and security at our border. Time and time again it has been proven that spending millions of pounds on security in Calais does not prevent people from making dangerous journeys. In the absence of safe, legal alternatives, people will continue to risk their lives in search of safety. In the past few months alone, several people have died at our border including very young children, and this situation will only get worse as winter continues.
As the latest figures from the Home Office show, there are fewer people claiming asylum in 2020 compared to the year before. The Home Office have already made it clear that 98% of people crossing the Channel this year have genuine asylum claims. Hysteria in the press and by our government is helping nobody. We need grown-up solutions to supporting people seeking asylum during a global public health crisis.
If the government cares for people seeking safety at all, it would focus on creating and improving safe, legal routes to safety, and ensuring new arrivals are treated humanely, rather than pouring more and more money into the securitisation and militarisation of our border and inadequate accommodation.
We urge the Immigration Minister to:
- Close military barracks
- Restart and extend resettlement
- Commit to no evictions from asylum accommodation during Covid-19
Close military barracks
We need Chris Philp to state clearly today that military barracks are unfit for purpose and that the camps in Pembrokeshire and Kent will be closed immediately, with safer accommodation found for all those held in these dire conditions. Military barracks, and the lack of adequate healthcare and support available at them, are completely unfit for accommodating people who have fled persecution and war. If hotels are unsuitable accommodation for people seeking sanctuary, then military barracks are completely unacceptable.
Restart and extend resettlement
The Home Office has already confirmed that resettlement will restart “as soon as possible,” but we need to know when this lifesaving route will reopen. Families have been stuck indefinitely in camps this year whilst the scheme is on pause. If flights for holidays, and for removals (including today’s planned removal flight to Jamaica) have resumed, then there is no reason why flights for resettlement cannot continue. We need clear restart dates and commitment to an extended resettlement scheme beyond 2021.
No evictions during Covid-19
The Home Office must give a public assurance us that nobody will be evicted from asylum accommodation into homelessness this winter, and ideally until Covid-19 ceases to be a threat to public health. This would ensure that everybody with insecure immigration status is able to follow public health guidance. This would also ensure that everybody in society is greater protected against the pandemic. None of us are safe, until we are all safe.
Watch HASC’s session live from 9.30am.
Please note that this list of recommendations is non-exhaustive. Find out more about our campaigning work to create a more welcoming Scotland for everyone.
