News and views

Statement on protests outside asylum hotels and the decision in Epping

This week’s news regarding the High Court injunction blocking people seeking asylum from being housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping has amplified racist rhetoric around refugees, migration and who ‘deserves’ to live in our communities. 

As an organisation with a mission to fight for equity, Big Life would welcome an end to people seeking asylum being housed in hotels. The process is dehumanising; people – often fleeing terrifying situations – are left trapped and isolated for months and months.  

The [asylum] process is dehumanising; people – often fleeing terrifying situations – are left trapped and isolated for months and months.  

Any sense of control and dignity is eroded, and people are given £9 a week to survive. As a consequence, once people are finally permitted to leave the hotels and begin life in the UK, they lack financial, social and community capital to do so. 

However, these are not the concerns expressed by the protesters currently outside hotels, who are getting a lot of airtime and coverage on social media and the press.   

We continue to fight for equity, we call for the government to adopt a safer and more humane solution for people coming to the UK to seek asylum.

These are often organised protests by far-right groups. The language used by these groups – claiming that refugees represent a threat to public safety, or that some cultures are not ‘compatible’ with British values – is discriminatory, dangerous and rooted in racism. We cannot stay silent while this public discourse further threatens vulnerable people across the country. 

As we continue to fight for equity, we call for the government to adopt a safer and more humane solution for people coming to the UK to seek asylum. We will also continue to do everything in our power to create a more equitable society, where the politics of division can be overcome by valuing and celebrating difference and building community strength.