7 August 2023
In response to the government’s so-called “small boats week,” the Green party has called instead for a “Welcome Refugees Week”. As 500 asylum seekers are set to be housed on a barge off the Dorset coast and the government announces steep increases in fines for landlords and employers who house and give work to asylum seekers [1], Benali Hamdache, Green Party spokesperson on Migration and Refugees, said:
“No barge is a suitable home for refugees. Most people who reach our shores and claim asylum are doing so completely legitimately due to fleeing war, persecution, discrimination or climate breakdown. The vast majority are desperate people who need to be met with compassion. Housing them in a barge is to treat them as prisoners and is heartless.
“The Green Party would open safe and legal routes for asylum seekers. With such routes, many refugees would not be forced into making a dangerous crossing of the English Channel.
“We want this week and every week to be “Welcome Refugees Week.” Rather than a heavy-handed approach on landlords and employers who house and give work to asylum seekers, Greens would enable families seeking protection to be accommodated in a house or flat and for single applicants to have their own room if in shared accommodation. We would also allow applicants of working age to be allowed to take up employment. This is not only the humane approach, it also acknowledges the economic and cultural benefits refugees bring to communities across the UK.”
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