Yesterday, Christine Jardine presented a Bill which would allow asylum seekers to work after 3 months.
From The Guardian
Jardine’s asylum seekers (permission to work) bill, if passed into law, would allow asylum seekers to work after three months of lodging their claim.
It has the backing of the Lift the Ban coalition, which has published research showing asylum seekers blocked from working in the UK could make a net contribution of £42m to the economy if restrictive rules were lifted.
Jardine said: “Right now, banning the vast majority of asylum seekers from seeking employment costs the taxpayer millions in housing and support payments. It also forces people who have risked everything to come here to live on the very periphery of society.
“Being denied the right to work, and to put food on the table for you and your family, is cruel and undignified.
“If passed, my bill would recognise the contribution genuine asylum seekers want to make to our society by allowing them to work after three months of lodging their claim for asylum.
“This change would also allow them to learn English faster and integrate into their local communities. For me, it’s a no-brainer.”
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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4 Comments
Well done Christine .This policy of the mad house deserves to be dumped without delay better someone makes a contribution and perhaps shows why they are a good candidate for permanent settlement through asylum than treat them worse than a criminal who is even in jail able to earn small amounts during the time they are incarcerated. The more we can dismantle the hostile environment to new settlers the better in my book.
This is why the Lib Dems truly care for the desparate, whilst Labour look to block free movement of labour – see Thornberry’s comments today. Gordon Brown was right when he said “British jobs for British workers”, Labour is no friend to migrants, refugees, foreign investors or ex-pats.
This is an excellent move that Lib Dems can be proud of. It has long been Lib Dem policy to give the right to work for asylum seekers who have been here for some time, and was in our manifestos for both the 2015 and 2017 elections.
it is now a big campaign that the refugee and asylum sector has taken up, and other parties piling in to support – but don’t forget it started with us !
it was updated in the Migration paper at conference in 2018, and this says more about it http://libdemfocus.co.uk/ld4sos/archives/1441
if you want to ( hope you do !) you can tweet / facebook from this article. If tweeting use #LiftTheBan
http://libdemfocus.co.uk/ld4sos/archives/1506 about what Christine said.
I don’t see why there should be any statutory timed delay. It should be as soon as the necessary paper work has been completed; a few weeks at the most. If there is to be one, then the shorter the better.