My Lords, I am pleased to speak as a co-sponsor of Amendment 54, and I shall recap briefly the case that was made in Committee. The right to work is a human right enshrined in the
UN Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Social policy in this country is premised on the importance of paid work as both a primary responsibility and the primary contribution that people can make. I drew attention to the damaging effects on asylum seekers and any children, and I cited evidence from a cross-parliamentary inquiry into asylum support for children and young people, of which I was a member, and a Freedom From Torture report which showed the hardship resulting from the policy of not allowing asylum seekers to take paid work for 12 months.
During the debate the Minister challenged the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, when she talked about people having to live on £5 a day by pointing out that families with children receive more than that. However, my understanding is that in 2013, 80% of applications for asylum were made by single adults, so the figure of £5 a day is in fact the typical sum on which someone has to live. That sum has been frozen since April 2011, and I wonder whether the Minister could explain the justification for freezing the level of support provided for one of the most vulnerable groups in our country. I also wonder whether he would be able to live on £5 a day, because I could not.
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However, none of these arguments cuts any ice. I cannot say that I was disappointed by the Minister’s response in Committee because it was pretty much what I expected, but I was desperately depressed as a result. The response reflected an obsessive fear that providing this basic right could lead to a flood of economic migrants posing as asylum seekers. Why would anyone want to do that? If you want to come into this country illegally, it is not the best idea to go and make yourself known to the authorities. That argument seems odd.
What evidence is it based on? There is none—as, in fact, the Minister conceded in his letter to the noble Lord, Lord Roberts. The evidence we have points in the opposite direction when one considers that there is no relationship between other European countries allowing the right to work—admittedly often with conditions around it—and that right acting as a pull factor for asylum seekers. Indeed, I went back to the Home Office’s own study, which could find no evidence from which to reach the conclusion—upon which current policy is based—that providing the right to work after six months would act as an invitation to economic migrants to come here as asylum seekers.
I have not yet heard a convincing response to the argument that, far from protecting British workers, the policy pushes asylum seekers into the shadow economy, where they will be at the mercy of exploitative employers. Does the Minister have any estimate of the extent to which this is happening? Nor have I had any real response to the argument that the policy seriously disadvantages those who go on to be granted refugee status, because employers do not want to employ people who have no work experience in this country and no references from employers in this country. That was cited as one of the barriers by respondents in the Freedom from Torture study, who said that some
of their problems began when they gained refugee status because they had not been adequately prepared, they did not have experience of employment in this country, and they had enormous difficulties making the transition from asylum seeking to full refugee status. We are making it harder for them. The Home Office’s own research has shown how the loss of skills and confidence, and difficulties getting qualifications, can mean unemployment or underemployment when refugee status is finally granted.
Governments like to talk about evidence-based policy-making, but when it comes to asylum seekers it seems to me that it is more a case of prejudice-based policy-making—despite the evidence that public opinion, which is so often prejudiced against asylum seekers, supports this policy. For me, this prejudice-based policy-making diminishes us as a country and makes me ashamed of how we treat those who seek sanctuary among us.