Another busy Bank Holiday weekend of trying to raise the profile of the group and the importance of treating people kindly, selling raffle tickets, raising money and chatting about seeking sanctuary with all the delightful people who stopped on their way to or from the Festival site. Thanks to Richard for the loan of his house frontage for our stall for what must be the 7th annual stall [ I think we missed 3 years due to the pandemic] It is very good of him to allow us to use the space, allow use of his kitchen and toilet and his help daily to put up and take down the stall. We shared the space with the Greyhound Rescue Wales for two days and Hay Animal rescue for one.
The weather was kind on the whole compared with how it can be for Hay Festival. However given that April was the hottest on record and May one of the driest ever , It was a shame that all of us gardeners had our wished-for cooler damper weather… The wind was cold for quite a bit of the weekend but much stronger on Monday. The rain came in on Monday afternoon so heavily that we took the decision to close at 3.30 so Ruth and Margaret were denied the opportunity to give out sanctuary seeking toys, sell tickets and chat.
Given the negative media portrayal of people seeking sanctuary and the political emphasis on reducing immigration, it was great to be back with people who are like minded and kind. No one is advocating taking in anyone who wants to come to Britain but being welcoming ,caring and friendly to those who have been forced to flee seems like the very least one can do for a fellow human being. Certainly we met no one who stopped to talk who approved of the ‘Island of Strangers speech’ . We maybe had a few more people who hurried by and a couple of ‘no thank yous’ and even one ‘I’m not Racist but i don’t like all the eastern Europeans…!’ [ we had a discussion and agreed that there were good and bad in every group of people and that generalising wasn’t helpful. Subsequently one of the other helpers revealed that they knew the person and thought they had dementia…] .
So the careful preparation I’d done with volunteers seemed unnecessary. Please see below for the detailed info sent.
Over the three days we raised £871.32 [ Saturday £239.12, Sunday £285.64 and Monday £353.96] , gave out loads of orange heart stickers , some leaflets, some sanctuary seeking toys[ this teddy has lost his home. Will you look after him and give him a new home?] had lots of interesting conversations and sold over 500 raffle tickets.
Many thanks to Janet R, Sean, Lis, Claire, Alison, Karen, Barbara, Reg, Meriel, Judith, Gaynor, Hilary, Jan, Rhiannon, Virginia, Rebecca, Emma DT, Sian, Carola H, Cressie, Rowland, Sharon, Lynne, Sally, Andrew, Emma L, Christina C, Di, Ruth, Margaret, Ailsa And Lawrence for running the stall and selling and coping with whatever was needed. Thanks to Richard and to all the many people who weren’t able to be with us on this occasion but wrote to explain.
And Then we were fortunate enough to be allocated two events to collect after on the following Friday and Saturday. The Friday collection after Juliet Stevenson spoke was unannounced so the audience must have been very kindly disposed towards people seeking refuge as we were given £279.35.
The Saturday event was both an inspiring talk expertly chaired by one of our supporters Ben Rawlence and the panel were Nicola Kelly and Horatio Clare. Nicola has obviously suffered considerably having worked for the Home office and then volunteered in Calais and been subject to trolling for her support of sanctuary seeking people . Horatio Clare gave an exceedingly positive viewpoint about how welcoming and kind Britain really is and how we should be proud of the much lower casualty figures crossing the channel than crossing the Mediterranean .He pleaded for a much more positive portrayal in the media. and made the case for offering safe and legal routes to come to Britain. If these were present then smugglers would be out of business. He also said that if the country put all the money they were spending on the hostile environment, the backlog, the hotels , holding centres, The security and instead put it into investing in infrastructure and jobs then that would make a major difference. And if the people seeking asylum could do some of the jobs then that would mean they paid their way. He suggested stop privatising the profits [ the companies running the hotels, hostels and barges make vast profits] and nationalising the pain [ making us all fear the’ invasion.’ ]
After this talk with a good mention of us by Ben and a short ‘question’ from Mike Gatehouse we raised 1,417.17 . a great way to finish our Festival fundraising. And the good news was that the card readers worked well, thanks to a steward who shared the wifi that was working.
Thanks to Richard, Janet R, Sean, Lis, Claire, Alison, Karen, Barbara, Reg, Meriel, Judith, Gaynor, Hilary, Jan, Rhiannon, Virginia, Rebecca, Emma DT, Sian, Carola H, Cressie, Rowland, Sharon, Lynne, Sally, Andrew, Emma L, Christina C, Di, Ruth, Margaret, Ailsa, Lawrence, Lynne, Philip, Melrose, Mike, Robert and Neil. A great Team effort during the Festival. And Thanks to Hay Festival for making this all possible.
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Information sent to the kind helpers for the Stall .in addition to giving details of place, time and tasks , I’d offered some suggestions and also the up to date ONS data released on May 22nd.
possible help with conversations .
We’ve never had any aggression or really difficult conversations over the last 10 years BUT it’s always best to be prepared. Hate speech is illegal. And most people may simply be worried from what they’ve seen in the media.
I’l have some answers to the common misconceptions available on the stall That I’ll also share as a PDF below
but
Listening is the most important strategy in difficult conversations, so use empathy and consider the other person’s perspective.It’s often best to always assume that people share the same values as you, Normalise compassion. Tell human stories
Link Link. For inspiration Link
Suggestions from Hope not Hate
engagement is most effective when people are able to feel listened to and feel like they are getting all the information. When people feel like they aren’t being given the full story and information is being withheld, this can create mistrust. Openness, honesty and good faith are crucial.
Listen and Empathise . If they fear they will lose their job or home to someone seeking sanctuary this needs to be heard…and possibly gently countered.
DO
Come prepared with the facts about the situation, and your sources.
Explain as many details as you can, and don’t sugarcoat the situation.
Listen actively, and remain focused on the conversation.
Acknowledge the other person’s feelings.
Remain calm and speak clearly.
Take turns and allow time for your partner to respond to each point you make.
Remember that any anger is not directed at you, but at the current situation and the position you are representing.
DON’T:
Don’t dispute the facts, encourage the person to look this up afterwards.
Don’t make up information or make promises or predictions you aren’t sure of.
Don’t question people’s feelings – criticising them won’t change them.
Don’t raise your voice, mock or laugh at your conversation partner.
Don’t expect everyone to know terminology and abbreviations, explain them.
Don’t assume a political stance or world view, listen to what is being said..
INFORMATION. Taken from City of Sanctuary website . Talking about the asylum process can be tough. Entrenched political scapegoating and the divisive nature of culture wars means the truth is often twisted or lost entirely.
Talking about it is tough, but it is also vital. If we are to build a fairer, kinder asylum system, we the quiet majority need to break the silence and speak up.
To help you with these courageous conversations, we’re here to set the record straight…
Why don’t people seek asylum in the first safe country?
They do. According to the UNHCR around 70% of displaced people stay in a country neighboring the one they’ve fled. And 76% stay in countries that are poorer than the United Kingdom. A minority of people travel further, and that’s usually because they have family in a specific country, or they speak the language, or because they have Colonial links or ties.
Why are people ‘illegally’ crossing the channel?
People are forced into crossing borders irregularly because they’re unable to access visas. Without a visa, no aircraft, international train or ferry are able to allow you to board. If any travel operator permits someone without a visa to travel they will have a Carrier Fine imposed.
The UK imposes visa restrictions on countries where there is any instability or risk that someone may need to travel to the UK to claim asylum. So essentially people who need asylum are locked out of visas forcing them to take dangerous crossings to reach safety, family and the chance to rebuild.
Are most people coming here economic migrants?
No this is not true. First off, people traveling to the UK to claim asylum aren’t allowed to work or claim benefits. They’re only entitled to asylum support which, if you’re housed within the community, is £49.18 a week – this must cover all food, transport, hygiene items, phone data and clothing. If you’re housed in a hotel, barracks or the barge, food is provided and asylum support is just £8.86 a week. This is a tiny amount of money and certainly not enough to justify the label of ‘economic migrant’.
If you don’t claim asylum you aren’t eligible to work and can’t claim asylum support or any form of financial support from the state – this is known as No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF).
Secondly, the vast majority of people claiming asylum go on to be recognised as a refugee by the government – 67% of all initial decisions at December 2023. Many initial refusals will go on to be awarded refugee status on appeal.
People are housed in hotels, are they not just coming for these benefits?
Whilst people wait for a decision on their asylum claim, they are not eligible for benefits and they’re not allowed to work. As people are prevented from supporting themselves, the state has a duty to accommodate them. Because the government has taken so long to process these asylum claims, the accommodation in the asylum system has become overwhelmed and so they’ve started to use hotels, barracks and the barge.
The hotels used are procured by the private sector and are deregulated when used as asylum accommodation – this means that if the hotel was a 3 or 4 star hotel, this no longer applies to asylum seekers. The company will often strip the rooms of items such as TVs and put bunk beds in so that they can put as many people as possible. They’re cramped environments that people already traumatized by war or torture often find extremely difficult to survive.
There is enough accommodation without the need for hotels or barracks already in the asylum system if the government makes decisions within the six months it says it will. The current arrangements to accommodate asylum seekers are hugely expensive and damaging to the people placed in those environments.
Refugees are a drain on our public resources i.e. why don’t we use resources for homeless people?
Refugees want to work, but most people in the asylum system are banned from working whilst their claim is assessed. This often takes years and significantly damages people’s health, mental health and employment prospects by de-skilling them and forcing them into years of worklessness and poverty. During that time they have very little access to English Language Learning Support which also impacts their ability to progress positively into employment following the asylum process.
The Lift the Ban campaign has been calling on the law to change, allowing people in the asylum system to work. They estimate that the treasury would earn £333 million per year through doing this. It would also significantly improve the long term employment outcomes for refugees following the asylum process.
Aren’t refugees taking jobs away from local people?
Most people seeking asylum are banned from working until their asylum claim has been assessed. We think this needs to change. The UK has significant workforce gaps where employers struggle to fill vacancies, with between 12% and 17% of businesses reporting workforce shortages. Allowing people seeking asylum to work would mean vital jobs would be filled, the treasury would earn approx £333 million per year, and people would be able to fully support themselves rather than being housed in substandard asylum accommodation force to survive on minimal asylum support.
Why are all refugees young men?
It’s incorrect to say that women and children don’t claim asylum. In 2023, 23,457 women claimed asylum in the UK. The main reason that there are more men claiming asylum than women and children is because of how difficult and dangerous the journey is. Many families will send a male to make the dangerous journey anticipating that they’ll be able to apply to have their family join them when they finally achieve status. Sadly this process often takes years leaving families separated for prolonged periods of time.
Does the UK take more refugees than other European countries?
No, the UK takes far fewer refugees and asylum seekers than most other comparable countries. In 2022, the UK recieved 81,130 asylum applications, comparatively Germany received 243,800, France 156,500 and Sweden 117,900.
Is Britain a soft touch? Isn’t it easy to get asylum in the UK?
Britain is one of the only countries that bans people seeking asylum from working, places them in dangerous barges and barracks, and allows for Indefinite Immigration Detention, including the indefinite detention of children. We’re geographically the hardest country to get to, and have one of the hardest visas to access. We have one of the longest processing times in Europe despite having lower numbers than comparable countries. Nothing about claiming asylum in the UK is ‘soft’.
Do refugees go to the top of the council housing list?
People in the asylum system aren’t eligible for social housing. Once someone’s asylum claim has been heard and they are given refugee status, they do become eligible for social housing, but they do not get any priority. Social housing is allocated based on priority needs which may be based on child dependents, disabilities or healthcare needs. Refugee status does not qualify as a ‘priority need’.
There isn’t enough social housing. If we had a system of taxation that spent money on social housing for everyone rather than waste millions of pounds on a hugely expensive, damaging and ineffectual asylum system everyone would benefit.
The truth is vitally important. But facts alone won’t change people’s minds. Instead we need to change the story totally.
ONS data release May 22nd 2025
22nd May 2025 Today the Home Office has issued its quarterly immigration statistics for the year ending March 2025. Highlights include:
Use of asylum hotels is falling: Today’s figures show that 32,345 people seeking asylum were placed in hotel accommodation in the year ending March 2025. This is 15% lower than at the end of 2024 and 42% lower than when numbers peaked at the end of September 2023 and 56,042 people were accommodated in hotels.
The number of outstanding asylum applications is falling: The asylum backlog now stands at 78,745 cases, relating to 190,536 people. This is a reduction by 13% and the lowest number of cases since September 2021.
Responding to these figures, Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said:
Today’s figures reflect that we are living in an ever-unstable world, where many men, women and children are left with no choice but to flee their homes in search for safety. The number of Channel crossings has increased by 22%.
The only way to cut Channel crossings is to undermine the business model of the smugglers, which necessarily includes creating more safe and legal routes for people to apply for asylum in Britain. We are therefore concerned that the government intends to make it more difficult for families torn apart by war and persecution to reunite safely and legally. Making family reunion more difficult will mean vulnerable men, women and children risk perilous journeys across the Channel as they desperately seek to reunite with their loved ones.
We are encouraged to see that the Government is getting the broken asylum system working again, making progress in clearing the backlog. Getting asylum application decisions right, first time remains the fastest way to cut costs in the system. It is vital the Government continues to prioritise cutting the backlog of asylum applications, the key reason why so many people remain stuck in asylum hotels. Though we are encouraged fewer people are being accommodated there, currently there are still over 30,000 people stuck in limbo in hotels.
The two most visible symbols of the asylum system are boats and hotels. To restore public confidence, the government must undermine the business model of the people smugglers by expanding safe and legal routes for people to apply for asylum in Britain, and deal with the backlog in asylum applications. Once asylum applications have been decided, refugees can be moved out of hotels and supported to integrate and contribute to our local communities, while those who have no right to stay here can be returned with dignity.
BBC link for analysis of ONS data