Dear Ailsa,

Thank you for this email which asks important question of those seeking to represent us.

I have answered below for the information of your members:

I believe in a fairer and kinder asylum system where people seeking asylum are supported, provided with care and not demonised or blamed for economic and social injustice in the UK.

I was pleased to attend the first ever meeting of Hay, Talgarth and Brecon Sanctuary for Refugees, I have enjoyed seeing the movement grow and I have continued to support the work the group does.

Through my work as Deputy Leader of the County Council and as an active citizen I have been fortunate to spend time with people seeking refuge. I am proud of the Welsh Labour approach in working to make Wales a Nation of Sanctuary, establishing welcome centres and responding to the call for action in the wake of humanitarian crises. I also supported Powys County Council’s agreement to be a Council of Sanctuary.

I will continue to advocate for human rights – which the right to seek asylum is and which must be defended.

Yes. People seeking asylum bring with them a wealth of talent and experience. Enabling people seeking asylum to work can only benefit our communities and our economy. We can see the evidence on this from the Ukrainian support scheme.  It will also give people human dignity.

Housing is a significant pressure locally.  I know, from serving as Council Cabinet Member for Housing, that we do not have enough homes for social rent in Powys and we are dealing with more complex housing needs. That’s why I put in place a plan to build new council homes and to buy former council homes back – enabling us to address increasing homelessness in the County.

I believe that everyone should have a safe and secure home. I worked with partners in the Council and NHS to press the Home Office into scrapping plans to use a disused hotel in Powys to house asylum seekers. We worked together to do this on the grounds that the property is unfit for habitation. I also oppose the use of barge and former military camps for accommodation as they clearly do not meet acceptable standards.

There must be a kinder and fairer way to help people seeking asylum.  The current system fails everyone – the asylum seeker, the country and the economy.

Labour will stop the chaos and go after the criminal gangs who trade in driving this crisis. We will create a new Border Security Command, with hundreds of new investigators, intelligence officers, and cross-border police officers.

This will be funded by ending the wasteful Migration and Economic Development partnership with Rwanda.

This new Command will work internationally and be supported by new counter-terrorism style powers, to pursue, disrupt, and arrest those responsible for the vile trade. We will seek a new security agreement with the EU to ensure access to real-time intelligence and enable our policing teams to lead joint investigations with their European counterparts. Labour will turn the page and restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly, and fairly; and the rules are properly enforced. We will hire additional caseworkers to clear the Conservatives’ backlog and end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds. And we will also act upstream, working with international partners to address the humanitarian crises which lead people to flee their homes, and to strengthen support for refugees in their home region.

I hope these answers are helpful.  if there is anything else that I can do please do not hesitate to contact me.

With best wishes,

Matthew

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