When I drive my little boy to school, we drive down a road with England flags on every lamp post. We drive over a roundabout with a faded red cross on it. Honestly, it scares me. It feels like we are living in a dystopian nightmare.
I wonder how we got here, to a place where people now feel freely able to be openly racist. Yet, they claim it’s not racist to be proud of their flag. What’s wrong with displaying the England flag in England?
But we know what the flags mean.
They mean you are not welcome here. You, being illegal immigrants. Or any immigrants. Or anyone who does not have white skin. It feels threatening, as if they are saying they only want their ‘own kind’ to be accepted here.
It speaks to a narrative that has come up time and time again. There’s a superior race. That we only look after our own kind. That we are scared of what we don’t know, that we hate that which we don’t understand. That we cannot find empathy for those who do not come from the same background as us.
For many of these people, this is the only time they have taken a stand behind a cause. Out of all the dreadful things our government has done, this is the one that we care about.
Not the tax fraud. Not disability fraud. Not all the billions of pounds we spend on war and defence in other countries. Not starving children in Gaza, or the war in Ukraine. They get behind the one thing that makes them feel freely able to hate other people.
And reform knows EXACTLY what they are doing. They spread misinformation around to a certain group of people who are easy to rile up. These people talk among themselves, share posts on Facebook and believe what is said without questioning or fact-checking.
So let’s check some facts.
Illegal immigration in the UK
Illegal immigration in the UK is an issue. I understand that a lot of money goes to housing immigrants. But these people speak about a complex problem in a simple way. And Reform is using immigration as clickbait and spouting misinformation to incite hate.
What we forget is that some people are so desperate to leave an awful situation that they will risk their lives for freedom.
Debunking some misinformation about illegal immigration
Why are only men on the boats?
This feeds into the idea that men come over to England and put people in danger – a big idea is that they attack and sexually assault women and children.
The reason the boats crossing the channel are mostly filled with men is that it’s dangerous. The men will take the risk and attempt to bring their families over at a later date, as they are most likely to make it. Once they are established here, they will bring their family to the UK through a safe, legal route. It’s very dangerous for children, women and the elderly to flee persecution here and claim asylum.
Immigrants get put up in hotels
Immigrants are not put up in hotels and given the hotel experience like paying guests. Many of the rooms are stripped back, and multiple families share facilities. They live in cramped, poor conditions, sharing with strangers. The hotels are run by skeleton staff, and they don’t always have access to a kitchen.
They come here to get everything for free
Those waiting for their application to be processed are not allowed to work, which is why the government has to provide accommodation. They are not entitled to normal state benefits. They can claim asylum support for £49.18 per week. This drops to £9.95 per week if their accommodation provides meals. Could you live on that?
If the government lifted the ban, they would be able to work and pay taxes.
They get free iPhones and PlayStations
This is not government-backed. There are some charities that give second-hand electrical items to immigrants. Most of the time, the phones are a cheap brick phone that allows them to make calls and text only.
Why do they all want to come to England?
The UK does not take the most refugees. 72% of them stay in a neighbouring country. Many countries take more than we do, including Germany, Poland and France. The graph below shows the largest refugee-hosting countries as of mid-2024.
The people who come to the UK usually do so because they have family or other personal connections, or because they speak English, so they find it easier to go through the application process.
We can’t afford to let everyone in
Refugees make up less than 1% of the UK’s population.
Why do we put asylum seekers up in hotels but not our own homeless?
We do. There are currently around 140k homeless households in the UK – these are temporary living accommodations provided by the state.
The issues are two separate things that are being used as arguments by the far right against illegal immigration. It pits two vulnerable groups against each other. Both groups of people need help and should receive it.
Reform has no policies in its manifesto to tackle homelessness (neither Labour nor the Conservatives). Many people who use this argument have never cared about the homeless.
If you have used this statement to strengthen your argument, I’d love to know how many times you have spoken out against homelessness before. How many times have you volunteered or given to charities that support homeless people? How many times have you given to homeless people on the street?
Asylum seekers are not preventing the government from helping the homeless.
I don’t mind legal immigrants, it’s the illegal ones I disagree with!
There is no legal process for claiming asylum in the UK. You can only do so once you are here. This means that the only way to claim asylum is via a dangerous route, such as a small boat.
Crossing the channel ‘illegally’ does not make you an illegal immigrant. The illegal part is that if the outcome of your application is rejected, then you become an illegal immigrant.
Asylum seekers commit crimes and are dangerous!
Over 80% of crimes committed in the UK are by men. Did you know that 20% of Reform UK Ltd MPs have a conviction for assault of a woman?
Also, two in five of those arrested for the riots at the asylum hotels in summer 25 had previously been reported for domestic abuse. That’s 41% of people who have been reported for crimes associated with intimate partner violence.
These people do not care about the safety of women and children.
Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage loves migrants, as long as they are rich. He was paid £40,000 to speak at an event that helps wealthy people migrate to other countries, where they can pay lower taxes. Tax that should be going to our government.
These are the things we should be mad about.
Let’s look at the numbers.
- Tax avoidance and tax evasion together led to £12.4 billion in lost revenue in 2021-2022
- The tax gap in 2024 is estimated to be £46.8 billion. Source.
- Benefit fraud and error cost taxpayers £9.7 billion in 2023. Source.
- The total cost to local authorities for supporting homeless people in England is approximately £2.3 billion annually.
- In the 2023/24 financial year, the UK spent £53.9 billion on defence. Source.
- The cost of the UK’s asylum system was around £5.4 billion in the financial year 2023/24.
Asylum seekers are a vulnerable group of people who need support. They are human beings, and their life are just as valuable as ours. We should help these people. It’s the right thing to do ethically.
Groups like Reform and Tommy Robinson are using misinformation to make people angry about asylum seekers, telling us that they are the reason for poor living standards, lack of funding to the NHS and why they don’t have enough money to live. There are other factors that contribute to this, and the government’s allocation of funds to asylum seekers is only a small part of the picture.
I urge you to educate yourself and show some empathy to other human beings who are fleeing a dangerous situation and are risking their life to do so.
There are so many things to be angry at. But this anger should not be directed at those who are less fortunate than us.