Demonstration To Help Asylum Seekers In Limbo Backed By Huppert

MP Julian Huppert is backing a student demonstration calling on the government to ease the plight of destitute asylum seekers.

Julian will be speaking at the event organised by Cambridge University Amnesty International and CUSTAR (Cambridge University Student Action for Refugees) in Cambridge’s Market Square on Saturday (March 3).

Demonstrators are asking the government to allow asylum seekers to work if they have been waiting more than six months for their cases to be concluded or if they have been refused asylum but temporarily cannot return home through no fault of their own.

Julian, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees has signed declarations by the Jewish Council of Racial Equality and Still Human Still Here calling on the government to change the employment rules affecting these people.

He said: “I am pleased that Cambridge University students are campaigning on this vitally important issue which has serious implications for the asylum seekers and the wider community as a whole.

“Our asylum system has been left in chaos by the Labour government and we have asylum seekers left in limbo by the immigration service. They cannot earn money to feed their families, their mental health suffers and the taxpayer picks up the bill. This makes no sense.

“Whole families are left struggling against a backdrop of poverty while our immigration services works to clear a massive backlog left by the previous government.”

The majority of asylum seekers who have found themselves trapped in a system, over which they have no control, are surviving on just over £5 a day because they are forced to rely on government or charity support.

Many European and Scandinavian countries already allow asylum seekers to work six months or less after making their asylum application and all of these countries receive less applications than the UK.

Nicci Shall, Chair of Cambridge University Amnesty International said: “It is a great support to our campaigning to have MP Julian Huppert's backing in this vital work to improve the rights of asylum seekers.”