I spoke at a public meeting in Shildon last Thursday, and Coundon the Thursday before. Organised by Majority members, the subject was common sense politics, and a discussion about what matters to the people of south Durham. Buses came up. Ant-social behaviour, especially kids on illegal motorbikes. Lack of investment in the area. Politicians who make promises and do nothing afterwards. No one mentioned foreigners.
So why then, is social media swamped with posts denigrating refugees?
I wrote a post on Facebook about the budget. Apropos of nothing, someone called Stephen commented, “How much can illigal immigrants claim put the government website up for us all to see what yous are given then…you no it exists your to scared to put it up”
I posted the facts.
Illegal immigrants get nothing. They can get sent to detention centres.
Legal immigrants to the UK pay £1,035 a year NHS surcharge, plus a £2,885 immigration fee.
An asylum seeker gets £8.86 a week if their accommodation provides food. That has to pay for travel, clothes, toiletries, stamps, phone calls and anything else.
If their accommodation does not pay for food, they get £49.18 to pay for everything.
I posted the link. https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get
Stephen had another try, “and thats not the official government web page and you no it so put the real one up”
Someone else posted, “Never mind immigrants. What's clearly needed here is some English lessons for the English.”
Stephen called me a scumbag and a traitor, then disappeared.
Another poster said, “A lot of the economic migrants turning up being housed in hotels and often not cheap ones so government are obviously paying hoteliers a canny amount to do this.”
More rational and polite, but factually incorrect. Economic migrants receive no benefits, backdated or otherwise, and are not put up in hotels.
They have no recourse to public funds of any kind (e.g. benefits) – they have to pay their way, prove they have cash in the bank, and have a minimum salary.
They pay visa fees between £710 and £1,639, and the Immigration Health surcharge of £1,035 a year. In total, it costs from £11,200 to £38,000 to settle in the UK.
Economic migrants make a net contribution to the UK economy. For example, overseas students contributed £41.9 billion last year. Without them, our universities would go broke overnight.
Then there are the people who think they’re clever, asking, “Would you let an immigrant live in your house?”
No. Nor would I run into a burning building or perform heart surgery. I pay my taxes so people with the skills and equipment can do it on my behalf. But my next door neighbour is an Iraqi refugee, and I like him.
Tens of thousands of British people did open their homes to Ukrainian refugees. By July 2024, 54% of all UK refugees were Ukrainian.
I spoke at Shildon back in April. The Tories were banging on about “stop the boats.” No one in Shildon mentioned foreigners. The Neo-Labour government have accepted the Tory narrative, and bang on about “smash the gangs”. If you want to smash the gangs, open a safe and legal route. No one will pay a fortune for a dinghy and a fake life jacket when they can get on a ferry. It’s worrying that a government whose stated aim is to increase GDP fails to understand basic supply and demand.
So back to the question – if the facts disprove the narrative about refugees, why is there so much bile? Surely, it can’t all be hostile political actors backed by overseas money, spread by social media bots?
Unless you look at billionaire Xwitter owner Elon Musk. Pushing a petition to replace the British government. I think Keir Starmer is dishonest, incompetent, and an enabler of genocide. But Musk can get lost. British democracy is none of his business.
What’s the agenda of Musk’s buddy, Nigel Farage? On top of his £92k MP’s salary, he rakes in £98k a month from GB News, and £4k a month from the Daily Telegraph. He just took £40k from a company called Nomad Capitalist. They help rich people get multiple citizenships to avoid paying tax. A strange version of patriotism.
As for the posts implying immigrants are deviants, they can be dismissed. Did they not notice the Archbishop of Canterbury just resigned for covering up child abuse in the Church of England? Barrister John Smyth, lawyer for Mary Whitehouse, abused over 100 boys over four decades. No race, creed, or country has a monopoly on vice or virtue.
To paraphrase a respected visitor to Newcastle upon Tyne, I want my children to grow up in a country where people are judged not by their country of origin, but by the content of their character.