Refugee charities call for an end to ‘hostile politics’ in open letter to PM

QARN signed this letter

7 April 2025: Together With Refugees: Refugee charities call for an end to ‘hostile politics’ in open letter to PM

Dear Prime Minister

You told us this week that immigration ‘is a basic question of fairness’. We agree. But the searing experiences of last summer, when hate-filled mobs tried to burn down hotels hosting asylum seekers, make it clear that the path to fairness is not to be found in those pitting local communities against refugees seeking safety from persecution and war.

We know that 80% of British people want an asylum system that is fair, compassionate and well managed. In our daily work we see communities across the country going the extra mile to welcome refugees – opening their homes, volunteering, speaking up, and donating. Refugees enrich our country as our neighbours, friends and colleagues.

That’s why the fair and right thing to do is create a new vision for asylum in this country, with a fair new plan for refugees. We welcome the important changes your government has made – from scrapping the Rwanda scheme to ending the indefinite detention of refugee children, but we need a plan that goes further, with:

Protection for people fleeing war and persecution by upholding the UK’s commitment under international law to the right to claim asylum.
A proper strategy for welcoming refugees by ensuring fair, rapid decisions on their application for asylum, and the chance to rebuild their lives through settling in a community.
Stronger global cooperation to tackle the root causes that force people to flee their homes and provides positive solutions when they do, including through safe routes to refugee protection.

Now is not the time to play into the hands of those seeking to build them-and-us division between local communities and refugees. It is the time to move away from the hostile politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language of the past and unite our communities for a different way forward.

Yours sincerely