This post is a bit ‘off topic’ although asylum seekers need to be housed somewhere, and we do have a housing crisis.
However, housing is not the only crisis we face. For example
- There are not enough people willing to work for the NHS – NHS statistics given here state that staff vacancies in NHS trusts in England increased from around 133,100 in the quarter to June 2022 to around 133,400 in the quarter to September 2022. Which we are told is a five-year high.
- There are also problems in hospitality now that cheap labour is no longer coming from Europe,
- Shortages of agricultural workers, particularly for picking fruit and abattoir staff, and
- A shortage of building workers, such as bricklayers, plumbers and the like, as our largely older workforce approach retirement
There is also the problem that we have an ageing population in the UK. We need more younger workers to support them. More younger workers mean more tax income and other money to support the pensions and medical care for the elderly.
Then, if we want growth, we will need people to work in the new green industries, which could turn the UK back into a prosperous manufacturing country again.
These are just some of the problems we are facing.
But surely the solution is staring us in the face?
Many asylum seekers are good people with the skills that we need. Why do we not welcome them?
Here is a suggested course of action:
- Invest heavily in staff to process asylum seekers as quickly as possible, and maybe
- Set up processing centres abroad, perhaps in the camps, to provide a legal route for genuine asylum seekers to use (this would disincentivise people from using the illegal and dangerous small boats route).
- Once applications have been processed, illegal applicants can then be deported immediately. Meaning that we will no longer have to pay for their support.
- We should then focus on getting successful applicants into work as quickly as possible. For example, by providing English language and other training that they may need.
- Once they are in employment, they would be able to support themselves (which is what most of them want).
This would help the economy by filling the vacancies as discussed above, and maybe provide the builders and construction workers needed to help build the new houses we need.
This approach could pay for itself by:
- The income tax paid once the asylum seekers are in work
- Savings on hotel accommodation and other expenses paid for asylum seekers, and maybe
- A financial levy charged to asylum seekers and refugees once their income reaches a certain level, to pay back the cost of any training provided.
Consideration could also be given to allowing people wanting to come to this country who do not qualify as asylum seekers, to remain so long as they work in specific industries where workers are badly needed. Such as the NHS, assuming that they have relevant skills.
And finally,
All politicians talk about the need for growth. One way of getting growth is by increasing the workforce. Why can’t we do this by taking in asylum seekers, who are desperate to come here and who are no longer able to live in their own country?
It is, in my opinion, the right and humane thing to do. Asylum seekers and refugees have been coming to Britain for hundreds of years and have always enriched our country.
Indeed, some Tory right-wingers themselves, including Ms Braverman, the current home secretary, are descended from them.
So why does no one talk about the points raised above? Is there some obvious reason which I have missed? Please leave your comments below.
Refugees, asylum seekers yes. Migrants who appear to present a danger? NO!
I wholeheartedly agree with all that – it makes so much sense. But unfortunately politicians don’t seem to have much of that. Also, how would the civil servants take it. I can imagine “Yes, Minister” series.
In 2000 in a hospital in London we saw 30 patients in A&E on a Saturday.
In 2010 ( the same hospital) we saw 150 patients in the same department on a Saturday.
Staffing numbers the same!
Schools overwhelmed .
Truancy. Houses used as a brothel.
In an HMO for refugees/ asylum seekers, where properties have a downstairs bathroom, tenant urinating in bottle in bedroom and tipping urine out through window onto lean to roof into guttering.
These are just a few issues that I have reported to the local authority and police, after complaints from my tenants.
I was informed by the police that there were not allowed to work as part of their terms and conditions ( they were at home all day).
Areas where residents were predominantly home owned are now rentals. Areas have deteriorated in the last thirty years as a consequence. The level of deterioration in areas with asylum seekers/ refugees is much greater. Selective licensing ensued.
Are landlords paying the price ?
Do we have the infra structure to support this?
We need to make clear distinctions between migrant workers, refugees, economic migrants and illegal immigrants. We are allowing criminals who we don’t want to police or imprison at our cost, into the Country and turning away workers we need ! Lumping them all together is doing ourselves a disservice and is insulting to anyone arriving legally to work , or genuinely fleeing persecution. Surely we can find a way to distinguish between them ?
Arrive in small boats. Hidden in the back of trucks is not the right way to enter any country. If they believe this is the right way then one has to question their suitability. Entering by breaking the law is unacceptable and demonstrates their likelihood of not being law binding citizens in my humble opinion. I am not against immigration but like choosing tenants carry out a proper vetting process.
I totally agree with your comments. All immigrants are not low skilled, many are highly skilled wanting to escape brutal regimes; but even low skilled workers can offer something the country can benefit from.
I understand that Ms Braverman’s parents were immigrants, so as she is so against this class of people why doesn’t she send her parents to Rwanda?
Just as a point I have found the white English are really my worst tenants and that people from overseas are often much better!!
I totally agree with you – and with Vance Harvey above. My niece worked supporting people seeking asylum, and it’s a shameful waste to not allow them to work. Many have been through extreme trauma, and being forced to sit around waiting for a decision on their future does nothing to improve their mental health or to help them to integrate.
Economically it’s nonsense. For example, about 1,200 medically qualified refugees are recorded on the British Medical Association’s database. It costs around £25,000 to support a refugee doctor to practice in the UK but training a new doctor costs between £200,000 and £250,000!
@Geof We have a legal duty to accept refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention but with no legal way to travel to the UK for the specific purpose of seeking asylum, we are forcing people to come in small boats or in the back of lorries. The government is enabling the trade of the people smugglers!
Personally I don’t care if people immigrate “just” for economic reasons; if people want a better life and are prepared to work for it then they should be made welcome.