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Things Suella Braverman admits here:
1⃣ The lack of safe routes forces people into dangerous journeys.
2⃣ There are no safe and legal routes for people to enter the UK from most of the world.
3⃣ Children fleeing persecution can’t come to the UK, even if they have family here.
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🚨🚨The House of Lords just voted to give people seeking asylum the right to work 🚨🚨
This is BRILLIANT news!!! Congratulations to every single member of the #LiftTheBan coalition.
House of Commons here we come…!!! 💪🏼💪🏼
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We no longer have a refugee protection system.
We have a refugee punishment system.
Deporting 15 refugees (likely Syrians) to Rwanda because they dared to seek safety on our shores is the beginning of the #AntiRefugeeLaws being put into action.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2022…
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The day after a petrol bomb attack on innocent people the Home Secretary calls them invaders.
Shameful, shameful, shameful. This rhetoric puts so many people at risk. Refugees. Her department's staff. Our staff and volunteers. We are furious.
Inflammatory rhetoric from Braverman warning of "invasion" of migrants along south coast.
"The British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast and which party is not. Let's stop pretending they're all refugees in distress".
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Today, Suella Braverman is expected to announce plans to ban all those crossing the Channel from claiming asylum.
It will be yet another day of shame for this Government’s refugee “protection” system.
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Can you hear all 181,399 of us @pritipatel? People seeking asylum are still being frozen out of work today, the day we hand in our 181,399-signature petition to the @ukhomeoffice. It's time to #LiftTheBan and give them the right to work.
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🚨No refugees will be deported to Rwanda tonight 🚨
This is what people power looks like. You are all incredible!
Together we CAN and we WILL fight the #AntiRefugeeLaws ✊🏼✊🏽✊🏻✊🏿✊🏾
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Refugees watch famous British TV moments for the first time.
With @Milo_Edwards.
1. Come Dine With Me, 'you won Jane'
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Giving people seeking asylum the right to work is common sense, particularly in a pandemic. We don't think there's any question about that.
But as they're still being denied it, there will be a debate in Parliament today in which the case to #LiftTheBan will be made.
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We condemn the attack in Dover on Sunday and are thankful that no one at the centre was seriously hurt.
When the powerful relentlessly abuse people who cross the Channel with hostile words and policies, it makes them targets for violence.
This abuse must end now.
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The House of Lords just voted for a THIRD time to give people seeking asylum the right to work.
That's three times they've voted for common sense.
The Bill now goes back to the House of Commons later tonight.
Will Ministers finally listen?
It's time to #LiftTheBan!
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Call us old fashioned, but we think the point of human rights is that they apply to all humans.
ALT Currently, asylum seekers arriving in the Uk have the right to seek protection under the UN's Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. But the Mail on Sunday says a clause in the Illegal Migration Bill is expected to apply a "rights brake" to effectively allow the conventions to be circumvented. It is not clear how this would work.
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💥REFUGEE ACTION'S MOST WANTED💥
Did you know that the UK asylum system is run for profit?
We're revealing our Most Wanted, the companies profiting from refugees' misery.
Thread below👇
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🚨The #AntiRefugeeBill has been passed🚨
This is a disaster and a disgrace
We will fight against every punishment this Act dishes out to refugees✊
When the Act is repealed it won’t be a second too soon, but it will be too late for many of the lives ruined by this legislation
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Tap👉or click🖱️on this GIF for a true statement about refugees.
Scrap the #AntiRefugeeBill.
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Please share to help us get this message to @SuellaBraverman!
She's just told a Lords Committee she's unaware of any polling showing that the right to work for people seeking asylum is popular.
She'll be so relieved when she finds out 81% back #LiftTheBan!
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Countries where people seeking asylum have the right to work after six months:
🇫🇷 France
🇺🇸 USA
🇪🇸 Spain
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇵🇱 Poland
🇬🇷 Greece
🇷🇴 Romania
🇩🇪 Germany
🇦🇹 Austria
🇮🇹 Italy
🇨🇾 Cyprus
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇨🇦 Canada
🇦🇺Australia
Countries where they don't:
🇬🇧 UK
#LiftTheBan
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A straight question. A straight and emphatic answer.
Wide, deep and resounding agreement that people seeking asylum be allowed to work.
This is an absolutely MASSIVE level of public support. Will the Government listen to the people's priorities?
#LiftTheBan
ALT Text reads: People who have applied for asylum in the UK should be allowed to work to support themselves after waiting six months for a decision on their claim. 81% agree. 81% of Conservative voters agree, 87% of Labour voters agree, 88% of Lib Dem voters agree.
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If you want people to speak English, they need a chance to learn English.
🚨 Exclusive: Suella Braverman’s attack on immigrants and refugees “not learning the language” came after the government quietly broke its promise to help people learn English
opendemocracy.net/en/esol-na…
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Tonight our thoughts are with all those in Afghanistan who are seeking refuge.
The world is witnessing just how fast a whole population can be left desperately struggling to find safety.
We will always #StandUpForAsylum.
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"Why can't they stay in France?"
Do you hear this a lot too? Next time you do, send them this video so they know there’s a better question to ask.
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So @pritipatel, we punish or protect people depending on how they escape? They're escaping the same crisis.
The treatment of refugees who cross the Channel is already a disgrace. #AntiRefugeeBill will make it worse. Withdraw it.
#Afghanistan #Parliament
theguardian.com/uk-news/2021…
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Giving people seeking asylum the right to work is worth £300 million a year to the Treasury.
So today we're asking: Jeremy Hunt, do you want this cheque?
#LiftTheBan #AutumnStatement
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🟨>3 years tireless campaigning
🟨almost 200,000 petition signatures
🟨>250 partner organisations
🟨March 2022 polling shows 81% public support (that is ENORMOUS)
MPs will soon have a chance to #LiftTheBan and right one of the biggest asylum system wrongs. They must take it.
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Proof that people can change their minds in the direction of more compassion for refugees is so important.
For Christian Wakeford, meeting a refugee person to person made the difference.
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🧡💚GRENFELL AND THE RWANDA DEPORTATIONS 💚🧡
On the 5th anniversary of the fire, a thread about systemic racism and its victims.
Mohammed Alhaj Ali fled Daraa in southern Syria in 2014 as the civil war in his homeland grew ever more violent.
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2023 has to be the year that people seeking asylum win the right to work.
Here are 23 reasons (in just two minutes!) to #LiftTheBan in 2023.
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The cost of banning people seeking asylum from working is staggering. Lifting it would:
✅add £1.6bn to the UK’s annual GDP
✅save the Government a total of £6.7bn each year
✅increase tax revenue by £1.3bn each year
inews.co.uk/news/allowing-as…
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Fantastic news! Home Secretary has today committed in Parliament to review the ban preventing people seeking asylum from working. A crucial step forward in the campaign to #LiftTheBan! 130+ campaign partners will be putting the voice of people seeking asylum into this review.
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We do not know the experiences, backgrounds and personal stories of every person trying to cross the English Channel. But it is clear that many of them intend to claim asylum in the UK. 1/12
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The dehumanising language of hate, racism and hostility used by the Government, its ministers, and its departments against refugees is fuelling far-right violence against people who have asked us for safety.
#StandUpForAsylum
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The evidence we provided for this challenge was deeply upsetting – the Home Secretary preventing pregnant women and mothers from buying essentials for themselves and their young children.
It’s a relief that the challenge was successful.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2023…
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Priti Patel has chosen a disgraceful path on asylum. An outrage we should all fight against.
Today our thoughts are with people trying to rebuild their lives. This news just piles fear, stress and uncertainty on top of the terrible experiences that forced them from their homes.
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Let’s be 💯 clear:
📣any such ban would be a blatant breach of the international refugee laws the UK helped create in the first place.
This is all about keeping people out, not keeping them safe.
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After weeks of dither and delay the Gov's plan to protect people fleeing the war in Ukraine fails to match the need of the moment and the compassion of the public.
In fact, it's a massive downgrade from the UK’s previous support for refugees – and may even put them at risk.🧵
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Lord Cashman in the Lords debate about the #RefugeeBanBill
'I'm lucky that I was born in the United Kingdom. I have to stand back and say, what if I hadn't been?'
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Giving people seeking asylum the right to work is common sense. The new #LiftTheBan coalition report shows how clear the evidence is. We’d challenge anyone to read this thread summarising the report and disagree. 1/13
refugee-action.org.uk/common…
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Suella Braverman says the companies profiting from asylum accommodation are held to "high standards". We beg to differ!
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"The UK has a proud history of supporting refugees."
How many times have you heard politicians say that? A proud history is worth nothing to people fleeing war and persecution right now. We say we need a proud future of welcoming refugees. Would everyone in this video agree?
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The UK hasn’t resettled any refugees since March 2020. As holiday flights restarted this summer it’s a puzzle that resettlement hasn’t.
A puzzle with a missing piece: political will. Everything else is in place. Only the political will to reopen #SafeRoutesToSafety is missing.
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The campaign's new report shows it's common sense to #LiftTheBan. Read about how it benefits the wellbeing of people seeking asylum and the economy in The @Independent.
independent.co.uk/news/busin…
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The Government’s new Anti-Refugee Bill runs roughshod over human rights. We’ve joined with over 300+ charities, businesses, unions and people with live experience and written to the Prime Minister calling out this cruel and unworkable plan.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2023…
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We are devastated to hear the news that a 16 year old boy has died in the English Channel today. This is an utterly tragic and unnecessary loss of a child’s life. We are deeply saddened by this news, and our thoughts are with the child’s family and loved ones.
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26 pence per day.
That's the increase in Asylum Support @CPhilpOfficial has just announced for people seeking asylum.
12 weeks into a pandemic @ukhomeoffice finally acts. But with an insult, not an increase.
#StandUpForAsylum
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This Government's ugly plan to deport refugees to Rwanda is the start of the new #AntiRefugeeLaws.
Laws that are violent, racist and inhumane.
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4 reasons @ukhomeoffice comment is a dishonest mess:
1. It's legal to claim asylum
2. Nonsensical use of 'genuine' - if you claim asylum you're a person seeking asylum
3. Can't know which claims have merit until processed, 'quickly' or not
4. Numbers have gone down not up
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🚨 Campaigners and people seeking asylum have WON, proving the Rwanda deportation scheme to be unlawful.
This is a HUGE win against the Refugee Ban Bill too. Without the Rwanda scheme, the Home Secretary cannot comply with her own plans to deport people.
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Why do we call it the #AntiRefugeeBill?
To communicate that this is the biggest attack on refugee protection that we've ever seen.
In this thread of videos, Mariam explains how the Bill offers nothing but punishment to people seeking safety.
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Our new report found an asylum accommodation system cruel by design, with a truly shocking impact on people seeking safety in the UK.
The Home Office punishes, the public pays and refugees suffer. But who benefits? And what should we do?
🧵of the key points in the report.
ALT Front page of Refugee Action's new report: Hostile Accommodation - how the asylum housing system is cruel by design.
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The Government’s #AntiRefugeeBill has one message for refugees: don’t seek safety here.
Well, we have another message: #RefugeesWelcome!
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A lot going on today which might mean less coverage of the Nationality and Borders Bill, which passed 3rd reading in Parliament today.
Want to know more? Here's why we call it the #AntiRefugeeBill and believe it must be stopped.
piped.video/HAQOTM2vKo4
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People seeking asylum in the UK are banned from working. This thread explains why we should #LiftTheBan and give them the right to work. 1/12
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We demand the immediate closure of the Bibby Stockholm barge, along with more than 60 other charities. It is cruel to house people seeking asylum, many of whom are traumatised and isolated in an overcrowded and cramped barge.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2023…
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What an amazing moment to watch the entire #RioOlympics2016 #OpeningCeremony stand up and cheer for #TeamRefugees
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On Monday, Immigration Minister @CPhilpOfficial defended the decision to increase Asylum Support by just 26p per day, keeping it under £40 per week, after 12 weeks of deliberation in a deadly pandemic.
Well, we’ve done some calculations of our own...
#StandUpForAsylum
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Tonight we joined others outside the Home Office to share our grief and our anger.
Grief for the lives lost yesterday, their hopes now lost to sea. 🕯
Anger at the actions of this Government.
#TogetherWithRefugees we will remember and we will fight the #AntiRefugeeBill ✊🏼
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More deaths in the Channel are an unbearably sad loss. Our thoughts are with their loved ones.
When all is said and done, three people have died because keeping them out of the UK was deemed more important than keeping them safe.
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💥🚨And that's the double!🚨💥
The House of Lords votes AGAIN to #LiftTheBan and give people seeking asylum the right to work.
🙌🙌House of Commons....here we come!! 🙌🙌
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Just a few of the powerful words spoken in parliament today by @CatherineWest1 on why we must #LiftTheBan on the right to work for people seeking asylum:
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COSTILITY: the cost of hostility. The public money wasted by governments on being hostile to refugees and people seeking asylum.
Billions of pounds is being thrown away on deterrents that both don't work and are indefensibly cruel.
We call this costility. 🧵...
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If you believe that refugees should be protected and not punished, take action and email your MP 👇
Together, we are going to repeal the #AntiRefugeeLaws ✊
act.refugee-action.org.uk/pa…
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"First of all we're talking about a global humanitarian refugee crisis... people are fleeing from desperately difficult situations... people have a legal right to claim asylum.
"There are very few safe and legal routes."
Our Head of Asylum Tim Naor Hilton on @BBCBreakfast
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We need your help. The chaos of evacuation means thousands of Afghans have arrived at UK airports with nothing. We need help to give them the welcome and support they deserve.
Our colleague Lou is there. Please watch, share and donate at the bottom of this thread.
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Listen to the public. Listen to the reception to calls for compassion for Ukrainians and other refugees.
Does this #bbcqt audience sound like they want the Government to pass an #AntiRefugeeBill that makes us one of the most hostile countries in the world?
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How does the coronavirus crisis strengthen the argument that it's common sense to #LiftTheBan?
Ghadaq, 29, from Iraq, is a doctor and radiologist living in Manchester. However, she is unable to work because she has not yet been in the asylum system for 12 months.
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Live footage of Priti Patel selecting a new country to tell journalists she's going to get an offshoring agreement with.
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Last year, we spoke to refugees about the impact of the #AntiRefugeeBill.
They were categorical: it represented the biggest attack on the principle of asylum that we have ever seen.
refugee-action.org.uk/all-pu…
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Are you finding it politically unrewarding to run an asylum system that keeps people safe? It’s hard! We’ve got the solution for the ambitious politician... BÖRDER KRISÍS!
Build it yourself and see how useful it can be to justify things like an #AntiRefugeeBill. Instructions⬇️
ALT A cartoon figure wearing a jacket that says 'home secretary' on it, looking at a messy assortment of clamps and bits of wood with things written on them that relate to people crossing the English Channel to claim asylum. The animation style resembles flat pack furniture instructions.
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It's legal to claim asylum. People who have asked for help must not be treated this way.
This is an attack on everyone's rights. When universal human rights, like the right to seek safety, are undermined for anyone they're undermined for everyone.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2024…
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We know that the asylum system is failing people seeking safety. But the changes proposed by @pritipatel are a wrecking ball to the right to claim asylum and will deepen the injustices we already see. It's the biggest attack on the right to claim asylum we've ever seen in the UK.
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Today, the Home Secretary has repeated plans to remove people seeking asylum from the UK and detain them in remote locations. This is inhumane and immoral. It must not happen.
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The £973 triple lock increase to state pensions, confirmed in #Budget2023, gave retired Refugee Action supporter Robin an idea.
He’s going to donate the money to support refugees, and is inviting others to join him. #RetireesForRefugees.
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When asked if the nearly empty Rwanda flight should take off, Liz Truss said: "it's important we establish the principle."
What she's really establishing is a lack of principles.
#StopTheFlights
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In a perfect world, nobody would risk their life to reach the UK. But we have to be compassionate in the real world.
If you'd already fled war and horror, you might try to reach somewhere you know the language, you know people.
Should that be criminalised?
#AntiRefugeeBill
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The @ukhomeoffice says it's providing "safe, comfortable and secure" accommodation to people seeking asylum.
This is the accommodation they're talking about.
ALT A composite image of several photographs of accommodation provided to people seeking asylum in the UK. The images show a toddler, whose face is blurred out, that has been injured by a roof collapse, filthy conditions in kitchens and corridors and rooms full of debris and sewage.
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A lot has been written about the most effective way to oppose the deportation of people seeking safety to Rwanda.
We've read many times that criticisms on moral grounds play into the hands of the divisive politics the policy intends to sustain. 1/4
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📢📢📢 Sound up for this one.
Incredible show of compassion. A community demanding that refugees are welcomed not harassed. It's possible if we demand it together. #RefugeesWelcome
Crowd is unflinching after 5 hours stopping dawn raid van from leaving Kenmure Street in Glasgow despite outrageous police presence invading the area on a day when many in the community are trying to celebrate Eid #StopDawnRaids
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Want to know why people seeking asylum should have the right to work but don't have much time?
See how many reasons to #LiftTheBan Catherine can fit into a minute.
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When the Government proposes a Bill that punishes refugees, you have to put the whole thing in the bin.
There's no redeeming the #AntiRefugeeBill - it must be scrapped.
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"The Bill fails to live up to our history, our moral responsibility and our political and international interests."
It's rare for the Archbishop of Canterbury to make an intervention like this, but it's rare that a Bill is as wrong as the #RefugeeBanBill.
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"It's heartbreaking."
Catherine, who is seeking asylum, asks how 12 weeks of deliberation during a deadly pandemic led @ukhomeoffice to conclude that people seeking asylum deserve just 26p more per day to help them through this crisis.
It's an insult, not an increase.
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Banning people seeking asylum from working means banning teachers, builders, scientists, carers, musicians - all of whom could be contributing to their communities and sharing their talents in the UK. It doesn't make sense. #LiftTheBan
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Because, at their heart, the #AntiRefugeeLaws are about keeping people out.
Not keeping them safe.
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It's a point of principle that we continue to acknowledge the decisive role that racism and religious discrimination are playing in the vastly contrasting treatment of refugees due to whether or not they are seen as white or European. 1/2
ALT The image shows the faces of refugees of different backgrounds, ages and cultures. The text on top of the image reads 'there is no wrong kind of refugee'
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We’ve come together to say ‘welcome’ louder than any message of hate.
#RefugeesWelcome #TogetherWithRefugees
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Every year, the government makes available a personal tax summary showing what your tax contributions were spent on.
We’ve made our own version for costility. Here are some of the ways that the government is choosing to waste your money on punishing refugees.
ALT The cost of hostile policies designed to prevent people seeking safety in the UK. The costs total £6.83 billion.
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Conservative MPs and Peers are calling for people seeking asylum to have the right to work.
@BorisJohnson, @pritipatel, @michaelgove will you listen and support the right to work amendment in the Nationality and Borders Bill tomorrow?
It's time to #LiftTheBan.
ALT A screenshot of a tweet from the Financial Times journalist Jim Pickard. The tweet reads: "PM Johnson is facing a major rebellion in the House of Commons next week over the nationality and borders bill. At least 27 Tory MPs backing an amendment that would allow asylum seekers to work in the UK while awaiting the result of their application." There is a link to a Financial Times article about the rebellion and the image for the article is of Baroness Philippa Stroud, who proposed the amendment in the House of Lords.
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How an Afghan refugee who managed to reach the UK would be treated under #AntiRefugeeBill (Nationality and Borders Bill):
- Asylum claim inadmissible
- Flung into Covid-ridden barracks
- Sent back to a country they passed through
- Pay another country to take them (offshoring)
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We are one of the 174 organisations calling for the withdrawal of the inhumane Illegal Migration Bill.
Human rights, anti-trafficking, LGBTQ+, refugee support and violence against women and girls organisations are all saying the same thing: #StopTheBill
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🟨IN THE #LiftTheBan CORNER 🟨- 81% of voters, 180,000+ public supporters, 260+ charities, businesses, unions and faith groups, the literal United Nations.
🟦IN THE KEEP THE BAN CORNER 🟦- erm… ok let's see now... 👀🔍 apparently just the UK Government…
ALT Headline in the Independent Newspaper from 5 August 2022: Asylum seekers in UK waiting more than six months for deicision must be allowed to work, UN says
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Wonderful to see Hazim and Abdul telling #Countryfile about their new lives in Oswestry after fleeing war in Syria. We know that with support, refugees like them are successfully rebuilding their lives and contributing to their new communities across the UK. #RefugeesWelcome
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"Misery is lucrative" - @alisonthewliss MP
It costs more a night to keep people seeking asylum on the Bibby Stockholm than it would to put them in hotels. Yet there are 4 private companies; Mears, Serco, Clearspring and CTM who are profiting exponentially from this model.
We need a not-for-profit asylum system now.
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Preventing a doctor from working in the UK during a pandemic is not common sense. Giving people seeking asylum the right to work is. #LiftTheBan
gmiau.org/why-we-need-to-lif…
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From barracks unfit for human habitation to deathtrap housing where a mother saw the roof collapse on her toddler, the way we house people who are trying to rebuild their lives is a disgrace.
Share if you agree we need to #CloseTheBarracks and house people safely in communities.
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