Campaign wth us
Ask your MP to sign the asylum election pledge
February 2010
In this election year, campaigning organisation Liberty is calling on all MPs and parliamentary candidates to sign its asylum election pledge. We, along with Refugee Council in England, are supporting this.
Ask your MP to sign the pledge and to remember Britain’s history as a place of refuge for the persecuted. Simply visit Liberty’s website for an automated email which you can fill in with your own words and send to your MP. You can also find out who your MP is on their site.
The pledge states: “There is no place for racism or xenophobia in modern British politics. Nor is democratic debate advanced by the denigration of the most vulnerable in our country, including children and asylum seekers who do not enjoy the right to participate in elections.
"I promise to remember the importance of refugee protection, even in free and wide-ranging debates about immigration policy. I will never play fast and loose with the proud tradition of a nation that must always offer succour to those in genuine fear of persecution.”
Visit the Liberty website here.
Stop cuts to asylum support for 2010/2011
January 2010
Asylum support rates are under threat of being cut yet again.
As you may remember, in October 2009 the government cut support to single asylum seekers from £42.16 to just £35.13 a week. This is a mere 55 per cent of Income Support or job seekers allowance. Lone parent's support was cut to just 66 per cent of Income Support.
Now there is an opportunity to speak out once again, as levels of asylum support are about to be set for the next financial year, 2010/2011. Scottish Refugee Council, along with our sister organisations in England and Wales and the Still Human Still Here coalition, is asking you to contact your MP on this issue.
Please ask you MP to contact the Home Secretary to express concern about asylum seekers being forced to survive on £5 a day while the Home Office reviews their asylum claims. And ask your MP to urge the Home Secretary to set asylum support rates for 2010/2011 to no less than 70 per cent of Income Support and at least £45 a week for single adults.
Click here to read a background briefing on the issue from Still Human Still Here (95KB PDF)
Scottish Defence League rally succesfully stopped
February 2010
On Saturday 20 February, some 100 the Scottish Defence League (SDL) protestors attempted to hold a rally in Edinburgh. Police managed to get them into pubs in Edinburgh, allowing more than 2000 anti-facist protestors to march peacefully through the city centre.
Read the full story on the Herald's website