Austria must step back from…

Austria must step back from the brink

Austria’s recent election results show that we all need to do more to win the argument for the benefits of refugee protection and a compassionate, common-sense approach to migration. The Austrian People’s Party (OVP), and the smaller and further-right Freedom Party (FPO), have worked in coalition government before to oversee a drop of over half in the number of asylum applications. Both have pursued policies that shut out the world, with the FPO maintaining that "the protection of cultural identity and social peace in Austria requires a stop to immigration."…

Austria’s recent election results show that we all need to do more to win the argument for the benefits of refugee protection and a compassionate, common-sense approach to migration. The…

Main party conference reports

Party conference season is usually an opportunity for political parties to step away from Parliament, debate the future and present the guiding principles of their plans for the future. There is much to discuss and digest from the season – but very little on migration, despite the combination of Brexit, the Europewide refugee situation, and a more interconnected world making the issue absolutely central to politics whether local or global. We were established because we were concerned about the toxic tone and misinformation that characterised the migration debate – but…

Party conference season is usually an opportunity for political parties to step away from Parliament, debate the future and present the guiding principles of their plans for the future. There…

Our response to the leaked document

The newly leaked immigration policy paper is a disaster waiting to happen. The paper outlines an approach that has been called a “Britain first” approach but it is nothing of the sort; driving down standards for foreign residents is not the same as improving standards for citizens. For instance, a spousal income threshold that prevents the least well-off 40% of Britons from living at home with a foreign partner would be extended to cover European citizens. Normal life would not be an option for foreign workers in other…

The newly leaked immigration policy paper is a disaster waiting to happen. The paper outlines an approach that has been called a “Britain first” approach but it is nothing…

The EU-Turkey Deal

The weather in Lesvos is improving, the sea is calmer and clearer, and so the number of migrants making the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Europe is increasing. So are the deaths. So far 2,365 people have perished since January this year. Here we go again. With no let-up in the Syrian war; and fighting, human rights abuses and extreme poverty elsewhere people will continue to seek sanctuary and a better life, even if it means taking huge risks. It is a human instinct. As images of crowded boats and seas…

The weather in Lesvos is improving, the sea is calmer and clearer, and so the number of migrants making the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Europe is increasing. So are the…

EU Withdrawal Bill cannot water down rights

The EU Withdrawal Bill (formerly the Great Repeal Bill) goes back on the government's commitment to safeguard the rights of EU citizens resident in the UK before Brexit. The Government keep stating that they wish to uphold EU citizens’ rights. And yet the Bill grant them the power to amend, water down or remove rights in the event of a no-deal Brexit. That is why we alongside a number of leading organisations have called for the UK Government’s proposal from June 26th (on safeguarding the position of EU Citizens living in…

The EU Withdrawal Bill (formerly the Great Repeal Bill) goes back on the government's commitment to safeguard the rights of EU citizens resident in the UK before Brexit. The Government…

Family migration rules still aren't working

Candy Young is a dancer from the US who met and married her husband – a fellow performer - while working in the UK. She was able to stay on via a student visa for her course at the University of Huddersfield, and the couple had their first child shortly before she graduated. But she now may have just a few months left with her family. Her husband works in a kitchen and earns just £600 a year below the £18,600 income a British citizen needs to be able to…

Candy Young is a dancer from the US who met and married her husband – a fellow performer - while working in the UK. She was able to stay on…

Europe must choose compassion over force

As 750 Austrian troops are deployed to the Italian border, powers across Europe are once again choosing blunt force over compassion for some of the world’s most desperate people. The escalation of military action in and around the Mediterranean represents a worrying trend in policy and thinking – that the current situation at Europe’s borders can be solved with ever more violent border controls. Already, an estimated 2,000 people have met their deaths attempting to enter Europe this year. Harsher measures will lead to more bodies in the…

As 750 Austrian troops are deployed to the Italian border, powers across Europe are once again choosing blunt force over compassion for some of the world’s most desperate people. …

Government’s offer is unacceptable

The Government’s halfway-house offer signals a clear and worrying intent to continue use EU nationals in the UK as bargaining chips – just months after Europeans were openly referred to as “negotiating capital” in a Home Office letter. The new offer is strong on spin and weak on detail. There is a risk that huge numbers of Europeans resident in the UK will be left out by the offer, which does not take complex circumstances into account, and there is a further risk surrounding whether families will be able to…

The Government’s halfway-house offer signals a clear and worrying intent to continue use EU nationals in the UK as bargaining chips – just months after Europeans were openly referred to…

Brexit negotiations:

The Government’s halfway-house offer signals a clear and worrying intent to continue use EU nationals in the UK as bargaining chips – just months after Europeans were openly referred to as “negotiating capital” in a Home Office letter. The new offer is strong on spin and weak on detail. There is a risk that huge numbers of Europeans resident in the UK will be left out by the offer, which does not take complex circumstances into account, and there is a further risk surrounding whether families will be able to…

The Government’s halfway-house offer signals a clear and worrying intent to continue use EU nationals in the UK as bargaining chips – just months after Europeans were openly referred to…

Austria must step back from the brink

Editorials