Yesterday 100s of people from across the UK came together in Parliament to meet with their MPs about the Govt.'s disastrous earned settlement plans. Together, we shared our concerns directly with 80+ MPs.
A massive thank you to everyone who joined & helped make it happen. This is just the start.
Still reeling from brilliant @praxisprojects.bsky.social mass lobby yesterday. Final numbers tbc but 80+ MPs met with campaigners from across the country! Brilliant speakers Olivia Blake, Hannah Spencer, @zoejardiniere.bsky.social and RCN. I feel optimistic about what we can achieve.
Home Office Home Office refuses to exempt exceptional students from tough immigration rules Exclusive: Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper concerned about student visa ban on female Chevening scholars from volatile countries such as Afghanistan Pippa Crerar Political editor Tue 10 Mar 2026 The Home Office rejected an appeal from the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, that would have protected outstanding students in some of the world's most dangerous countries from changes to the UK's immigration system, the Guardian understands.
That Starmer keeps Mahmood in post shows this is not just the actions of an inhumane Home Secretary, but a deeper rooted ideology of hostility and xenophobia within this government. No-one benefits from blocking Chevening scholars. This is cruelty for sake of it.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
They call it “earned settlement.”
We call it a hostile environment with a new name.
📍 Parliament Square
🗓 11 March | 3PM
Lobby inside. Rally outside.
Settlement is a right.
Join us. Stand with migrant workers, refugees and families.
#SettlementIsARight #DropEarnedSettlement #WeAreHereToStay
"Humane". "Compassionate". "Fair".
Just a few of the words the Government has used this week to describe its new asylum rules.
This gaslighting won't work. Most people understand that locking up & forcibly deporting children is the opposite of humanity.
Council unlawfully refused to reconsider Afghan asylum seeker’s age.
The Claimant was represented by Bhatia Best Solicitors and Michael Spencer of Doughty Street Chambers.
➡️ www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/council...
This government will stop at nothing to win far-right votes.
These are CHILDREN who've seen bombs destroy their homes and loved ones die. They deserve safety - nothing less.
This disgusting policy would stain our country's conscience forever.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
What are Shabana Mahmood’s changes to the asylum system?
🚨Inhumane, definitely
🚨Illegal, quite possibly
🚨Ignorant, absolutely
🚨Counterproductive, unarguably
🚨Inconsistent with Labour's claims to be "progress, most certainly
🚨Costly, without a doubt
🚨Risking lives, one hundred percent
That should answer it.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
In case you missed it: Student and work visa bans imposed on some countries to prevent asylum claims | Colin Yeo
Our Policy Officer Rivka appeared on Talk to remind listeners that there are human beings impacted by this barrage of hostility.
Home Secretary’s announcement that asylum support would be revoked for those who “have the ability to support themselves” risks pushing people who simply cannot work towards homelessness, poverty & losing access to legal aid.
Our response: www.helenbamber.org/resources/la...
The government's fresh wave of asylum policy proposals are incoherent and cruel.
They risk making our already brutal asylum system impossible to survive, while recreating measures that already exist and failing to establish genuine routes to safety.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
The Home Secretary has made claims which are not true regarding migrants to push policies which will devastate lives, while increasing exploitation and people forced into becoming undocumented. These are not policies of "fairness", but instead of discrimination.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …
Dear Shabana,
Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.
Hi! Immigration lawyer here! Mahmood's view of the Refugee Convention as providing temporary protection just isn’t correct & AFAIK isn’t one anyone has ever adopted.
On the contrary, the Convention is clearly predicated on a long-term need for protection.
1/🧵
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This is Labour's justification for ending the automatic legal duty to support asylum seekers.
Question for all organisations working with people seeking asylum. How many people have you encountered who deliberately made themselves destitute to access meagre asylum support?
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In case you missed it: Latest statistics: overall decline in visa grants and concerns as Syrian asylum success rate plummets | Jasmine Quiller-Doust
Shabana Mahmood speech here if you want to watch it. I am and my advice would be: don't. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yFL...
Meanwhile, refugee family reunion continues to be paused, the Afghan schemes have been shut, and only 537 people came through the UK's flagship resettlement scheme last year.
The statement of changes to the immigration rules www.gov.uk/government/p... and the written statement (which goes wider than the rules changes) are now out questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...
Thank you @stellacreasy.bsky.social for already tabling the motion opposing today’s immigration rules changes. The government should allow scrutiny of their plans and schedule a debate on this motion.
edm.parliament.uk/early-day-mo...
Senior Policy Officer, Dr Sophie Cartwright, has written for @bordercrim.bsky.social about access to legal advice in detention.
JRS UK's research last year highlighted how difficult it was for people in immigration detention to access any legal support.
📖Read more: www.jrsuk.net/accessing-le...
Just so we’re clear:
❌ Travelling clandestinely or in a small boat to seek asylum: wrong
❌ Travelling safely and regularly to seek asylum: also wrong
Standing here today with my family and friends, backed by our community, has been a joy. I feel nothing but pride for the place I call home. While the journey hasn’t been easy and has tested us, I am delighted that this story ends not in frustration, but in belonging. Nelson Shardey
Nelson’s lawyer Nicola said: I am thrilled that Nelson is finally a British Citizen. For someone who has lived in the UK for so long, and has been at the heart of his local community, the near 50-year journey to secure this legal recognition has been far too long. If the Government’s earned settlement proposals become law, many more people could face journeys just as long or even longer to be legally settled in the country they call home. Some may never reach this milestone at all. Nelson’s story tells the importance of achieving settlement and citizenship, and the precarious reality of living with limited leave to remain. Placing more people on extended routes to settlement would be entirely disproportionate and unfair."
NEWS: Yesterday, Nelson Shardey was granted British citizenship following a ceremony at Wallasey Town Hall. A local legend, Nelson has been in the UK for 49 years, since 1977. He hit headlines in 2024 when, represented by GMIAU, he legally challenged the Home Office.
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The govt's decision to suspend family reunion was shameful.
It's great @safepassageintl.bsky.social are challenging this in the courts, but the govt should not waste public money defending this policy. They should withdraw & let refugee families safely reunite.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
New from FM: New report calls for overhaul of flawed age assessment process for unaccompanied children | Jasmine Quiller-Doust
"We, as Western nations, must choose between becoming closed and impoverished societies, or open and prosperous ones." Pedro Sánchez in der @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/o...
There’s still time to register your own views on these daft and damaging proposals
So we have a billionaire, tax-avoiding owner of a football club literally *full* of migrants, wheeling out racist tropes straight out of the far-right playbook.
Jim & people like him are the problem, not the migrants working every day to keep our economy afloat.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
