Targeting Migrants Won't Fix the Asylum System

The UK government’s plan to introduce targeted visa restrictions for nationals from Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka is a deeply discriminatory and politically motivated move. It also undermines the government’s own position that people should use safe routes if they need to seek protection in the UK. This is exactly what these people have done, and the government responds by demonising and scapegoating them.

We’ve seen this pattern before. When people from a particular country begin using a safe route to claim asylum - because no refugee visa exists - the government moves swiftly to shut that route down. We saw it with Trinidad and Tobago. We saw it with Namibia. Now we’re seeing it again. Rather than expanding pathways to safety, the UK repeatedly reacts by restricting or removing existing routes once people start using them to seek protection. And then, with no sense of irony, it insists that people should "come here legally" and use "safe and regular routes", knowing full well it has closed off nearly all of them.

We know from our work with refugees and migrants that people’s circumstances can change rapidly. A student or worker may face persecution, conflict, or political instability in their home country after arriving in the UK. Others may have already been facing serious harm, and with no refugee visa perhaps secured a student visa as a means of escaping persecution.
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This move amounts to a further erosion of one of the few remaining safe routes to claim asylum. Instead of addressing the appalling delays and failures in the asylum system, the government is doubling down on profiling and exclusion. The targeting of these three specific countries also shamelessly profiles people based on their nationality. Let’s call this what it is: racism.

This announcement is not about so-called ‘abuse’ of the system - it is about scapegoating migrants to score political points in the wake of poor election results. Many who voted for hard-line anti-migrant parties last week did so because both Labour and the Conservatives have moved in that direction. When cruelty becomes consensus, voters who want a tougher stance turn to the extremes.

Right now, we’re watching political parties compete over who can be cruellest to win over a narrow segment of voters - while ignoring the majority who simply want real solutions. After nearly a year in power, this government has focused solely on so-called deterrence and closing down immigration routes. They have not even pretended they’re interested in opening safe routes for refugees to seek sanctuary. Instead of scapegoating migrants, the government must reverse course and shift towards a humane and fair approach to immigration. If they don’t, and they continue normalising this shameless pandering to the far-right, they shouldn’t be surprised if voters continue rejecting them not only for Reform but also for kinder and more compassionate approaches favoured by left-wing parties.