Why the UK should welcome more people seeking asylum

Rich countries such as the UK have more resources to manage displaced populations, and are often partially responsible for the root causes of forced displacement. Yet the vast majority (76%) of people seeking asylum remain in poor or middle-income countries such as Turkey, Uganda, and Pakistan.

Indeed, the UK only hosts 0.7% of all global refugees. Compared against Europe, 19 other European countries host more people seeking asylum per head of population than does the UK. Even when raw numbers are compared, the UK ranked sixth in Europe in 2021. While 2022 did see the highest number of asylum applications in the UK in two decades, there were only 81,130 applications. This equated to 13 asylum applications per 100,000 people; that same year, the EU27 saw 22 asylum applications per 100,000.

In other words, only 24% of all displaced people arrive in rich countries. Europe has fallen behind its international and moral obligations, and the UK is farther behind still. Yet too often our political leaders use misleading rhetoric to justify policies which would see us do even less than we already do.

As a specific example, far too many politicians and much of the media use the red herring fallacy of ‘infrastructure needs’ to justify these immoral and often illegal anti-asylum stances. It must be remembered that only 0.6% of the UK population are people who have sought asylum, compared to 22% in Lebanon, 16% in Aruba, and even 3% in Germany – the last of which has far better infrastructure than the UK, due to having made necessary investments.

The many infrastructure issues which the UK currently faces are not the fault of anyone except for the government who, alongside its private investors, has refused to invest in Britain and instead blames others for the consequences of their decisions – decisions which they still support or they would have reversed the course of austerity years ago.

There is a better way to approach asylum – an approach of respect. We must respect those seeking asylum and treat them with dignity. We must respect our international obligations, both legally and ethically. And we must treat the British public with respect by being honest with them about the realities of asylum.