Stirring Up Prejudice

Tens of thousands of asylum-seekers with children will be pushed deeper into poverty by “cruel” cuts to their support payments which come into force on 10 August and leading charities including the British Red Cross have joined forces to claim the move would make it almost impossible for refugees to afford to feed and clothe their families. Their anger centres on a shake-up by the Home Office of help given to asylum-seekers, which includes a £16 weekly cut in the cash they are allocated for looking after a child. The reductions mean the weekly support for a couple with two children falls from £178.44 to £147.80 and for a couple with one child from £125.48 to £110.85. The support for a single parent with two children falls from £149.86 to £110.85 and for a single parent with one child from £96.90 to £73.90. The figures are the result of new rules under which asylum seekers of all ages are paid the same support rate and families no longer receive higher payments for each child. Asylum-seekers have no other source of income as they are not allowed to work while their applications are being assessed, which can take years. The cuts coincide with a separate move to end support for asylum seekers 28 days after their applications have been rejected.

Ministers have argued that the previous payments were more than refugees needed to cover basic living needs, but their stance came under fire from British Red Cross, the Children’s Society, Refugee Action and the Refugee Council. They pointed out that research has found nearly 40 per cent of asylum seekers already could not afford food for their families, and 88 per cent did not have enough money for clothes. They warned that cuts would exacerbate hardship among the most vulnerable.

Norman McKinley, the managing director of the British RedCross, said: “These cruel cuts will plunge families into further poverty, making it agonisingly tough for parents to feed their children, and practically impossible to buy clothes and other essentials.”

Lisa Doyle, the Refugee Council’s head of advocacy, said: “While MPs are to be awarded a significant pay rise, the Government has simultaneously pulled the rug from underneath vulnerable children and families who have fled unimaginable horrors. It’s utterly abhorrent that the Government has chosen to put people’s health and well-being at risk by making them even poorer.”

Stephen Hale, the chief executive of Refugee Action, said: “It’s clear the Government is using the situation in Calais as cover for increasing poverty and suffering among families seeking safety from persecution.”

Meanwhile, Philip Hammond, the UK's Foreign Secretary, stokes the fires of hatred by accusing African migrants seeking a better life in Europe of undermining the continent's "standard of living".

Unlike people camped out in Calais, those who are well connected and the wealthy can easily come into Britain and fleece £billions with the connivance and protection from our politicians and vested interests.

Changes to immigration rules allow the government to deport people then invite them to carry out their legal fight to return from outside the UK, mean the Home Office has the legal right to carry out deportations while some forms of appeal are ongoing, such as applications to bring judicial review. But activists said this prevents many people from getting proper access to justice with “no real regard to the rights of the individuals involved”.

“The mentality of ‘deport now, appeal later’ means the Home Office can pretend that individuals will have the chance to pursue legal avenues of return. In reality this is a farce,” said Jasmine Sallis of the Unity Centre.

Phil Miller, a researcher with Corporate Watch, said: “It looks like the Home Office is rounding up groups of migrants from particular countries so it can fill a deportation flight, instead of removing people based on their individual immigration cases.”

"Britain has started to draft different legislation to tackle migrants which is absolutely disgraceful. What Britain is trying to do is the distraction politics. The migrant crisis in Calais for example is a humanitarian disaster. The government wants to use this issue to try and divide us and the cutting edge of racism right now is attacks on migrants and this is coming from one of the most critical governments that are made up of millionaires. It’s completely hypocritical for the government be racking up racism and saying that migrants are problem for us", Geoff Dexter, Social activist in Birmingham told Press TV. "People fleeing their countries and properties is very much part of the wars that take place at the hands of our governments. In fact, people were fleeing as the direct result of wars waged recently by the United States, Britain and France", Dexter said.  

As a visitor to this blog earlier commented, until we achieve a socialist society, the immigration problem will be inevitable and will continually arise as the ruling class always demands their control of their borders so to turn the taps on and off  regards the flow of peoples, not in the interests of humanity but for their own advantage. Those who who protest the exclusion of fellow workers must strive for the abolition of capitalism. 

FOR WORLD SOCIALISM