It’s not about numbers

Editorials

It’s not about numbers

A group of Conservative MPs are reportedly lobbying Prime Minister Theresa May to take international students out of the net migration figures. They are right. About 230,000 foreign students start courses in Britain every year. They form a big chunk of the estimated 588,000 migrants a year who enter Britain. So they have become a key part of the national controversy about immigration. They should be removed from the statistics and the debate. They bring money, for fees and for living. On 11 January a Higher Education Policy Institute report said…

A group of Conservative MPs are reportedly lobbying Prime Minister Theresa May to take international students out of the net migration figures. They are right. About 230,000 foreign students start…

Changing the migration debate

2017 has been a whirlwind of a year; full of change, challenge, and potential opportunity. 2018 looks set to be no different. The world’s migrants have had to contend with a difficult year – widespread support across Europe for political parties preaching hatred and hostility, harmful refugee policies like the US travel ban or the failure to provide safe routes to Europe which has caused misery and death in the Mediterranean. Brexit proceedings are still failing to effectively guarantee the rights of EU nationals’ in the UK. Secret deportation flights,…

2017 has been a whirlwind of a year; full of change, challenge, and potential opportunity. 2018 looks set to be no different. The world’s migrants have had to contend with…

We call on the media to hear our voices

On International Migrants Day, December 18, Migrant Voice is calling on British media to listen to migrant voices. On this day, we celebrate the contribution of migrants globally and in the UK; but to celebrate migrants, you must first hear our stories. Thirteen per cent of the UK’s population is foreign born, forming almost 16 per cent of the labour force and almost 14 per cent of UK businesses are migrant-led. In the 21st century, migration is a fact of life. The way in which migrants have brought our world…

On International Migrants Day, December 18, Migrant Voice is calling on British media to listen to migrant voices. On this day, we celebrate the contribution of migrants globally and in…

A year on from the Casey review

It’s a common criticism of politics that there is a style of debate whereby reports on key issues are produced, covered on the news for a day, and then sink without trace. The criticism rings true of the response to Louise Casey CB’s controversial report into integration. Since its release a year ago, almost nothing has happened. If Casey’s report diagnosed some problems accurately, its prescriptions were ineffective. It appeared to work under the assumption that migrants are choosing to exist in silos and needed a more prodding and a…

It’s a common criticism of politics that there is a style of debate whereby reports on key issues are produced, covered on the news for a day, and then sink…

The case for a local migration strategy

This week, a Syrian boy arrived in Hammersmith and Fulham - the first refugee to be brought to the borough from the camps in Greece. The Home Office identified him as extremely vulnerable fourteen months ago. They agreed he was eligible to come to the UK under their very limited refugee protection scheme. Two months later a West London council, Hammersmith and Fulham, told officials they had a place for the child. But the Home Office did nothing for a year. It is only this week that the boy arrived. In that…

This week, a Syrian boy arrived in Hammersmith and Fulham - the first refugee to be brought to the borough from the camps in Greece. The Home Office identified him…

Home Office must respect confidentiality

Professional confidentiality is an essential component of our lives – it’s what enables us to feel secure with a doctor, a teacher or anyone else we may divulge personal details to. But in the newest offensive against migrants, that principle is at risk. The government’s plan to create a “hostile environment” for people who are undocumented has driven desperate people underground, had huge impacts on documented migrants and even citizens (many whom have been racially profiled), and yet is failing to achieve any of its stated aims. One investigation suggested…

Professional confidentiality is an essential component of our lives – it’s what enables us to feel secure with a doctor, a teacher or anyone else we may divulge personal details…

Close down the detention centres

Two years ago, a news investigation found abuse and violence perpretrated by staff against women at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre. And an independent report found Yarl’s Wood was holding vulnerable women for long periods in conditions causing serious distress and worsening mental health problems. This week a campaign led by Women for Refugee Women has exposed how severely traumatised survivors of rape and sexual violence are still regularly being locked up at Yarl’s Wood detention centre – breaching the government’s own policy on not detaining victims of violence. One…

Two years ago, a news investigation found abuse and violence perpretrated by staff against women at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre. And an independent report found Yarl’s Wood was holding…

NHS border regime needs urgent rethink

On the day it comes into force, the new NHS identity check system is already unravelling. A former NHS chief executive and hundreds of medical professionals have pleaded with the government to change course, and new research suggests pregnant and seriously ill migrants are already going without medical care due to fear of the new system. Hospitals are no place for border controls, and with an estimated third of vulnerable migrants saying that they are being deterred from seeking medical help, the policy may put wider public health at risk…

On the day it comes into force, the new NHS identity check system is already unravelling. A former NHS chief executive and hundreds of medical professionals have pleaded with the…

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…

It’s not about numbers

Editorials