An alternative migration manifesto for #GE2017
The next government’s approach to migration does not have to choose between common sense and compassion.
In the twenty first century, migration is a fact of life — there will always be people whose skills and expertise Britain desperately needs, and there will also always be those in desperate need who deserve what assistance we can render.
We don’t believe anyone has to be shoved to the back of the queue — the race for resources between migrants and citizens has been a race to the bottom for both. It is investment to rebuild neglected communities — not expensive border controls — that will provide the homes, school places, and hospital beds that Britain needs.
We should not duck the concerns that people have about pressure on pay. We believe those are addressed with real enforcement of minimum wage laws, a real living wage, and protection of both domestic and migrant workers’ rights.
It’s time to end the bureaucracy that tears families apart for no reason — like the spousal visa cap which effectively bans any Briton on a low wage from marrying overseas. As we learnt during the needless deportation of a grandmother with a British husband and children in March, the system is not currently governed by common sense or compassion. We can manage a sustainable migration system without breaking up families.
The push to bring down migration at any cost has led to an inefficient and unaccountable Home Office which deports people to countries that have abused them, buys uninhabitable housing at high prices for asylum seekers, and operates brutal detention centres. Border control duties have been farmed out to teachers and doctors to cope with strain caused by Home Office cuts, turning our communities into checkpoints. The financial and human cost of the current system is too great.
It should be replaced with a sustainable system that provides support to both newcomers and host communities through a fund that promotes integration — bringing people together, getting new migrants active and included, and giving resources to councils and civil society to manage population change in the interests of all.
Now that more powers over migration are returning from Brussels to Britain, we have a historic opportunity to decide the kind of country we want to live in. For too long our migration debate has been dominated by scaremongering and short-termism.
The next government has a duty to design a policy motivated not by arbitrary caps on numbers that cannot be met, but by an understanding of the social and economic interests of our country, and its place in a safer and more peaceful world.
*
Key topics
Asylum reform
The current system isn’t working. It’s costly, it’s not fostering integration, and its failures are causing harm to people who have come here after fleeing some of the world’s most desperate circumstances.
We need a fair system and minimum, harmonised reception standards, along UN lines, for incoming refugees that ensure they are treated with the dignity and respect that everyone in Britain is entitled to, and are supported to make a new life and a positive contribution.
The asylum housing system should be reviewed and inspections of housing for decent conditions and best value increased, and the option for asylum seekers to find their own accommodation should be explored. Asylum seekers should be granted temporary work permits while their application is assessed. Legal aid cuts that have denied asylum seekers access to the law should be ended.
We should close all detention centres linked to human rights abuses, end indefinite detention, and end detention for young people and vulnerable adults.
Refugee protection
The absolute minimum Britain can do is ensure that we take our share of the thousands of unaccompanied children who have been displaced by war and suffering. A Dubs-style scheme should be immediately reinstated, and our resettlement programme resumed and upgraded.
For refugees, the normal definition of family should be expanded. To allow people to maintain some form of stability, they should be permitted to settle with a grandparent, first cousin or sibling as well as a parent or spouse.
The plight of the world’s refugees is too great for one country to solve alone; but working together we can ensure every country does its bit. After Brexit, Britain should continue to work with European and global partners to end suffering. The Dublin Regulation, an EU instrument linked to human rights abuses, should be reformed or replaced with a pan-European asylum application process.
But some of the greatest challenges for refugees can come after they have received status. We need a more effective transition support process in place, including the issuing of temporary NI numbers and support finding work, extending the accommodation support period, access to counselling and access to ESOL classes and other integration opportunities.
Once settlement has been achieved, people should not be uprooted. Many will obviously choose to return to their country of origin when viable, but those who have built a new life here should not be forced out.
Border control
Border control is the job of trained officers at British borders — not of doctors, teachers and landlords. Imposing duties for immigration checks on the public damages cohesion, increases social tensions and doesn’t work. “Right to rent” checks, raids and bedside checks in hospitals must end.
The next government should invest in immigration enforcement at properly managed borders by officials, not place immigration controls in communities. The hostile environment strategy has failed and should be closed down.
Family reunification
The right to family life is sacred, and our laws must uphold the principle that immediate family (parents, children and partners) have a right to live together. Too often this is not the case, and people who are married with UK dependents are forced out.
This means abolishing spousal visa caps that discriminate between British citizens’ marriage rights based on wealth. It means developing a single, comprehensive evidence list — with due flexibility — of what is normally required for family reunion applications to end opaque Home Office decisions and unreasonable requests.
Brexit
Europeans were granted rights on arrival and are now being held in confusion and worry over the lives they have built. The next government must resolve not to use real people as bargaining chips; and should provide an immediate and automatic guarantee of EEA residents’ rights, as supported across the political spectrum and by ten organisations representing UK citizens overseas. UK migrants should also be allowed to retain residence.
Our future deal with Europe should work toward equalising conditions for incoming EU and non-EU residents, while recognising our historic links with our European neighbours and ensuring that fair routes for study and work remain in place.
Integration
Integration and cohesion does not come through compulsory oaths, but through dialogue, exchange and sharing space. Strong, healthy and diverse communities exist across Britain, based on mutual respect and trust, and should be supported.
It’s time for a national strategy to support integration on the ground, which would include:
- Preserving access to ESOL and other integration opportunities, and social and cultural spaces in which people from different backgrounds can come together.
- A population change fund to ensure that regions affected by rapid demographic change — whether through international migration, internal migration or birth rates — is supported.
- A strategy to end tolerance for hate crime, including increasing education, monitoring and reporting; alongside a voluntary set of standards for media and public bodies on discussing migrants and migration.
Work, study and wages
The exploitation of migrants and British workers sit hand-in-hand; one fuels the other. Wages and conditions are improved not by dividing workers, but by enforcement action against rogue employers and ensuring access to union representation for all workers.
We should work to ensure that businesses are not importing people specifically to take advantage of them, and that migrant workers — and all workers — are aware of their rights and avenues for complaint from day one in a job.
International students are short-term residents who bring huge amounts into our economy and HE sector — it makes no sense to try to reduce numbers, or record them in the same way as long-term or permanent residents.
Home Office reform
The Home Office’s processes should be open and understandable for all — at the moment they are too often closed, bureaucratic and confusing. A full audit for transparency purposes will restore public confidence in the migration system.
It is not fair or just to deport people before they have exercised their right to appeal. The integrity of our legal system is meaningless if people are unable to access it — therefore we should safeguard access to legal aid and ensure people are not forced to appeal against immigration decisions from overseas.
The next government should restore appeal rights in independent immigration tribunals and facilitate reasonable access to legal advice for both EEA and non-EEA nationals, in order to help them navigate new rules.
Migration objectives
Arbitrary caps have not worked. We need a policy driven not by abstract numbers but by an understanding of the social and economic interests of our country, and its place in a safer and more peaceful world.
The objectives of the system should be:
- To respond to the needs of communities, public services, local economies and the national economy.
- To discharge our duties toward the most vulnerable in society.
- To provide safe, fair and managed routes for those wishing to study, work, or raise a family in the UK.
Across the UK, there are strong communities uniting people of all backgrounds. The next government should support communities in creating spaces where people can all come together, and provide opportunities for all newcomers to make their contribution.
