Critics Slam Shabana Mahmoods Plan To Charge Asylum Seekers

Shabana Mahmood has been accused of “performative cruelty” over plans to charge asylum seekers for the cost of their accommodation.

The home secretary said the £4 billion the government the government spent on housing refugees last year was “too high”.

She wants asylum seekers to pay up to £10,000 once they are earning enough money. It is not yet known what that salary threshold will be.

Under measures to be unveiled in the new Immigration and Asylum Bill being unveiled on Tuesday, they must pay off the full amount they owe before they can be eligible to settle in the UK permanently.

Mahmood said: “We have already reduced asylum costs by £1 billion, but it is also right that we ask those who can contribute to do so,” she added.

“Receiving asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility. Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so.”

But Zoe Dexter, of the human rights charity the Helen Bamber Foundation, said the plan amounted to “more performative cruelty from the government”.

“Charging refugees around £10,000 once they finally find work is the opposite of integration,” she said.

“These are people who have fled persecution and extreme violence, often arriving with nothing, before spending months or years in overcrowded, dilapidated accommodation, sometimes facing intimidation and violent protests outside the places they are housed.

“Burdening them with debt just as they begin rebuilding their lives is grossly unjust and entirely self-defeating.”

Imran Hussain, of the Refugee Council, said: “Imposing what amounts to an extra tax on refugees, who the Home Office accepts have arrived here after fleeing persecution, torture and war, is unfair, impractical and make it much harder for families to rebuild their lives and stand on their own feet.

“The reason why many need asylum support is because the Home Office itself bans asylum seekers from working while their claims are being assessed.

“Asylum support is only given to people who are at risk of being destitute, so this new financial burden would only harm those who arrive on our shores with nothing.”

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