EDM #1098 Tabled by Claudia Webbe MP for Leicester East, on 21 March 2022
Motion text: That this House recognises the important campaigning work of the Status Now network on their two year anniversary; notes that there are currently an unknown number of persons in the UK who are not citizens and who do not at present have leave to remain in this country, who lack any entitlement to support from the state and are therefore entirely without funds to feed, clothe and house themselves and their families; considers it essential that the Government takes immediate action to ensure that Leave to Remain in the United Kingdom is granted to all such persons who are within the UK but are not citizens, irrespective of their nationality or immigration status, so that they can access healthcare, food, housing and other essential human rights; notes that asylum support allowance is a mere £39.63 per week which is a miserly and inadequate amount on which to be able to survive; laments the prohibition on asylum seekers being able to work while their claim is being processed, which leads to further impoverishment; welcomes the recent progress made in Ireland through the regularisation scheme for long-term undocumented people, launched in January 2022, which will offer an amnesty for 17,000 undocumented migrants; and calls on the Government to follow suit and ensure that all undocumented, destitute and migrant people in the legal process be granted status now, or indefinite leave to remain, to guarantee that every human being, irrespective of their nationality or citizenship can access the essentials to live.
We thank Claudia Webbe MP for her continuing support for the StatusNow4All campaign
Please ask your MP to sign this EDM. If they do not sign EDMs then you can ask them to talk with others about concerns raised above.
Please note that this is the StatusNow4All call: We call upon the British and Irish States to act immediately so that all undocumented, destitute and migrant people in the legal process in both the UK and Ireland are granted Status Now, as in *Indefinite Leave to Remain. In this way every human, irrespective of their nationality or citizenship can access healthcare, housing, food and the same sources of income from the State as everyone else.
We choose not to use the word ‘amnesty’ : We are asking for Status Now: We believe that the public health is only public if we include the undocumented, mostly people of colour, migrants living in the UK. We are not asking for amnesty. Amnesty is only for those who commit a crime, were found guilty, and were pardoned. We refused to deploy the language of this government criminalizing migration. We are asking for Status Now – Rogelio Braga https://statusnow4all.org/snn-we-are-asking-for-status-now/
We need StatusNow4All followed by dialogue about how then to progress.
See here for information about the regularisation scheme in Ireland: https://statusnow4all.org/ireland-masi-welcomes-the-decision-by-the-minister-to-offer-once-in-a-generation-amnesty-for-17000-undocumented-migrants/