Meeting aims to 'dispel fears and clear up myths' about asylum seekers in Carlisle
One of the meeting's organisers, Councillor Brian Wernham highlights the challenges faced by refugees, with many receiving just £1.14 per day to live on
Organisers of a meeting held in Carlisle city centre on Saturday 26 November say their aim is to “dispel fears and clear up myths” about asylum seekers that have been temporarily housed in a city hotel.
Organised by the Carlisle Refugee Action Group (CRAG), the meeting also provided an opportunity to raise awareness about issues faced by refugees and asylum seekers, outline what support is available to them, and to identify the practical and political solutions needed to help people seeking sanctuary in the city.
Speakers included Rae McGrath - an international humanitarian expert, Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, and patron of the Carlisle One World Centre, and James Cartwright - Chair of Carlisle Refugee Action Group. Mr Cartwright shared his hopes that the meeting would help to “dispel fears” about asylum seekers, saying:
“This issue is particularly pertinent in Carlisle at the moment. A second hotel for asylum seekers has opened. There have been fears on social media about this, and some anger.
“Hopefully the meeting will help to dispel these fears, and clear up some myths about what it means to be an asylum seeker and what this means for Carlisle.”
Councillor Brian Wernham, recently elected to the Cumberland Council Shadow Authority - which will replace the county and city councils from April next year as part of Local Government Reorganisation - was also in attendance, and provided his thoughts about the ongoing debate regarding refugees in Carlisle.
He said: “I hope this meeting will achieve more understanding from the local community - we need more volunteers to befriend, help and support the women and children that have arrived in Carlisle recently.”
Cllr Wernham also criticised the government’s approach to processing and assessing each asylum claim.
“There is a terrible shortage of people to carry out refugee assessments because this government has put all of the money in the wrong place.
“£140m has been sent to Rwanda - their president must be laughing his head off at all this free money. Yet not one refugee seeking asylum in Britain has set foot in Rwanda. What a waste of money.”
The home secretary, Suella Braverman MP, is aiming to quadruple the rate at which asylum cases are processed by staff as the government attempts to tackle the backlog in the system.
Ms Braverman told the Home Affairs Select Committee earlier this week that, on average, each member of staff assigned by the government to process asylum claims was deciding one asylum case per week.
The Home Office has doubled the number of asylum staff to more than 1,000 and plans to recruit another 500 decision-makers by March.
Ms Braverman told the committee hearing on Wednesday 23 November: "We want to deliver sustainable changes to reach a minimum of three decisions, per decision maker, per week by May."
Ms Braverman was pushed by MPs on the government's policy to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda in a bid to reduce the numbers crossing the Channel.
The plan, under which the UK has paid Rwanda £140m, is currently on hold as it faces a legal challenge in the court.
The home secretary insisted she “still has confidence” in the scheme and believed the courts would rule it to be legal.
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