Sheffield councillors have signed a 200-people cross-party letter criticising central government’s ‘abhorrent’ and ‘inhumane’ treatment of asylum seekers.
The letter follows controversy over the government’s ‘Illegal Migration Bill’ which could see asylum seekers being housed in former prisons and decommissioned ferries and barges.
Councillor Minesh Parekh, one of the signatories, acknowledges the need for the Government to address illegal crossings, but believes it is not fulfilling its duty of doing so through building “a new asylum system with fairness, dignity, and justice at its heart.”
The letter highlights the case of Hussein Haseeb Ahmed, 31, who is believed to have lost his life due to diphtheria, a bacterial infection affecting the respiratory system, after being housed in ‘extremely overcrowded and completely unacceptable conditions’ at a former Ministry of Defence site in Manston, Kent.
The bill, which is aimed at reducing migration through unsafe and illegal routes, namely regarding crossings in small boats through the English Channel, is set to go through its third reading in the House of Commons.
Cllr Parekh, added: “The government is currently at loggerheads with several local authorities over asylum accommodation plans, and is attempting to push through emergency legislation to allow it to shortcut council planning processes.”
The large number of signatures suggests country-wide support from local councils for increased scrutiny over Home Secretary, Suella Braverman’s, handling of the small boat crossings.
Despite data from the UK parliament suggesting an increased lenience towards asylum seeking applications, with the refusal rate falling to 24 per cent in 2022, its lowest point since 1990, it does not take into account the current application process.
One of the main criticisms in the letter involve the lengthy process which often leaves individuals and families in ‘limbo indefinitely’.
This refers to over 90 per cent of applicants in 2021 having had to appeal an initial refusal of their application. In turn, asylum seekers will often have to wait longer than a year to finally get their application approved, costing an estimated £980m of taxpayer money per year.
On top of this, a report from the Refugee Council suggests safe routes for the five main countries of origin, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Eritrea, and Sudan, have been ‘drastically reduced’.
Cllr Doctor Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini from Oxford, the co-founder of the Migrant Champions Network, commended the efforts of local councillors to denounce this process.
She said: “The fact is that communities up and down the country want to stand in solidarity with people seeking sanctuary and provide them a warm welcome.”
In Sheffield, this was evidenced by the counter protests held in February outside a hotel in Rotherham where anti-immigration demonstrators had garnered.
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said: “The majority of the men, women and children who cross the Channel do so because they are desperate to escape war, conflict and persecution.
“No parent sends a child on a desperately dangerous journey without a good reason.”
