Will you write to your MP and ask them to back the call to allow asylum-seekers to work?
Here’s a letter template which you can use; feel free to edit/amend it. It asks your MP to support the call to Lift the Ban and ask the government to allow asylum-seekers to work, like refugees can. There is growing cross-party support this call, so we need to keep the pressure up and ensure we reach tipping-point.
What to do
- Download the letter template
- Check that it’s addressed to your own GP. If your MP isn’t Julian Smith, just change the relevant items marked in red and then set the text to black
- Personalise any information you want (eg as show in red) and then set it back to black
- Add your name, address and your postcode (vital) and then set them back to back, also
- Ideally, email but otherwise post your letter to your MP. You can easily find this online, but here’s Julian Smith’s email address.
Thank you so much!
Here’s the context:
Our current asylum system prevents asylum-seekers from working, and this policy is in no one’s interest. Asylum-seekers can only apply to the Home Office for permission to work:
- if they’ve been waiting for a decision for over 12 months, AND (and here’s the rub)
- if they can do the few esoteric jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (which includes ballet dancer and geophysicist, but not many entry-level professions or areas in which we are facing a shortage, such as health and social care and agriculture).
At present, people who have risked everything to seek safety here must live on just £5.66 per day to meet all essential living costs, a sum which often forces them into destitution. Allowing asylum-seekers to work would enable them to:
- restore their dignity and have some independence
- stop them having to depend on benefits – for which they are berated but in which they have no choice
- enable them to contribute to the Treasury by paying income and other taxes (£97.8million could come from increased tax and NI contributions + and slashing spending on asylum support)
- add to GDP through their own consumer spending
- allow them to use their skills to benefit our economy.
71% of the public agree with our call to Lift The Ban, and the UK compares poorly to countries across North America and Europe in this regard.