Asylum Hotels and Illegal Channel Crossings Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Home Office
Alex Sobel
Main Page: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)Department Debates - View all Alex Sobel's debates with the Home Office
Asylum Hotels and Illegal Channel Crossings
Alex Sobel Excerpts(3 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Dame Angela Eagle
Our aim is to close asylum hotels and get out of what we feel is an unsustainable situation as quickly as practicable.
Alex Sobel (Leeds Central and Headingley) (Lab/Co-op)
I am sure that the Minister agrees that one of the root causes of this crisis was the last Government’s politically motivated actions, first slowing down and then freezing the processing of asylum applications. I have asylum seekers waiting 10 or more years for a decision. The British public want to see a contribution by asylum seekers to the system, reducing the public burden on taxpayers, so has the Minister considered lifting the ban on work so that people waiting more than six months for a decision can contribute to our tax system until a decision is made?
Dame Angela Eagle
Asylum seekers who wait longer than a year are allowed to work, so long as that wait has not been caused by them—that is, a wait through no fault of their own. We have that system now, and I am not considering shortening the length of time that must elapse before work is allowed.