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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · 6d

For anyone despairing at Labour’s “soft surrender” to Reform…. www.bigissue.com/opinion/labour-reform-immigration-policy-racism/

Labour can't out-Reform Reform – it needs to change tack

The Labour Party can't out-Reform Reform, and if it genuinely wants to choose ‘decency’ over ‘division’, it needs to change tact.

www.bigissue.com

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Reposted by Sile Reynolds

Medical Justice @medicaljustice.org.uk · 22d

The vast majority of our clients detained under "one in, one out" scheme are survivors of torture and trafficking. Our independent clinicians have visited clients in immigration removal centres and found concerning levels of PTSD and suicidal thoughts

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

‘We can’t eat. We can’t sleep. It’s a disaster’: the small boat detainees waiting to be sent back to France

This week the first migrants could be flown out of Britain under the ‘one in, one out’ deportation scheme. They talk about their fears and incomprehension

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Sile Reynolds

Freedom from Torture @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social · 29d

Last week the government suspended new refugee family reunion applications.

This devastating move will deny family life to refugees. It will simply punish those who have already suffered.

The Home Secretary must restore refugee family reunion rights and build strong communities.

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 8

Beyond Pakistan (high asylum numbers, high visa numbers, relatively low grant rate, drop in returns) where else is she targeting with this? Isn't going to mean much to the other top asylum nationalities: Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea (low visa apps?) & they've just agreed a returns deal with Iraq so..?

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Jon Featonby @jonfeatonby.bsky.social · Sep 8

Confirmation of new migration ministers in the Home Office. Alex Norris takes over the asylum brief from Angela Eagle, while Mike Tapp is the new migration minister

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 5

I’m gonna politely disagree with some commentators who’ve excused Labour’s actions on refugee rights by focusing on the occasional reference to compassion. Haven’t seen much compassion from front bench this week www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/05/grim-migrant-bashing-labour-yvette-cooper

A grim week of migrant-bashing, and for what? People will suffer – and Labour will gain absolutely nothing | Diane Taylor

British politicians’ rhetoric has become increasingly shouty and hateful. And now the home secretary has joined the chorus, says writer Diane Taylor

www.theguardian.com

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Freedom from Torture @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social · Sep 5

🚨 Nigel Farage is in Birmingham today, where he'll be talking about Reform's plans to try to send torture survivors into the arms of their torturers.

So here's a new billboard to show who has come out to back his new plan.

📍near Reform’s party conference, Birmingham

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

Thank god that's over. So depressed by Cooper's best defence of our membership of ECHR as "it allows us to make returns agreements with 3rd countries so we can send refugees away". I get why she likes it, but a failure by Labour to articulate a compelling argument on ECHR will be its downfall

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

Government is effectively equating family unity with unauthorised working: both are apparently used by smugglers to sell places in small boats. Only one of these is a perfectly legitimate exercise of a right enshrined in international & domestic law, and a fundamental building block of safety.

Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

We are watching the concept of refugee family reunion - built on the principle of the sanctity of the family, importance of family unit to enable integration & opportunity to rescue refugees directly from danger - being cynically spun into a politically expedient 'pull factor' exploited by smugglers

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

Cooper has helpfully clarified, in response to an impassioned intervention by Pete Wishart MP, that her compassion for refugees reaches no further than Ukrainian mums and Gaza students. We can only assume that the rest are considered to be abusing the system.

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

Have just heard from Chris Murray MP that Home Affairs Select Committee will be publishing the report of their inquiry into asylum accommodation shortly. @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social provided evidence to the committee of the harmful impact of hotels on survivors of torture in the UK asylum system

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Reposted by Sile Reynolds

Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz @josephinewy.bsky.social · Sep 1

So the govt is closing refugee family reunion for all practical purposes for the time being.

Applying the usual family migration rules to refugees means they will need to be earning at least £29,000 a year. After spending possibly years in asylum accommodation and not being allowed to work.

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

No real update on hotel closures except to say that they must all be closed.

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

Cooper also promised a 1k bed expansion of the immigration detention estate at Campsfield and Haslar Immigration Removal Centres.

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

"Overhaul of the asylum appeals system" = new asylum adjudicators body to deal with immigration & asylum appeals. She explained that it's for surge capacity, accelerate and prioritise cases. She also mentioned procedures to tackle repeat applications.

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

A new system for refugee family reunion will be brought in later this year including longer periods before refugees can apply to be reunited with their family, and new conditions in line with those that apply to non-refugee applicants.

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

New immigration rules will be published this week to temporarily suspend any new applications under Refugee Family Reunion route until a new scheme can be brought in. Refugees will be covered by the conditions and rules that apply to everyone else.

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

She expects returns to France under the 1 in 1 out scheme to start later this month

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · Sep 1

Cooper will shortly be providing a statement to parliament on her plans for asylum reforms, including reforms to restrict access to refugee family reunion and speeding up processing of asylum appeals www.parliamentlive.tv/Commons

Parliamentlive.tv - Commons

www.parliamentlive.tv

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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · Aug 5

Finally, the text of the UK/France migration treaty

Some comments 1/

www.gov.uk/government/p...

UK/France: Agreement on the Prevention of Dangerous Journeys [CS France No.2/2025]

This treaty was presented to Parliament in August 2025.

www.gov.uk

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · May 12

Just in case you were labouring under the illusion that it’s the divisive and toxic migrant-bashing - that is favoured so often by Home Secretaries in recent years - that puts migrants & their family members at risk of hostility & violence in our communities.

Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · May 12

It’s helpful to have Cooper explain, with a commendably straight face, that Powellesque references to an “island of strangers” was not racist but actually a statement of solidarity with all the family members of migrants whose inability to speak English leaves them at risk of exploitation & abuse

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Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · May 12

Well, in a dramatic twist that will surprise no-one, Philp has used the opportunity of the Government’s dog-whistle white paper on immigration to explain how the Conservatives could do all of the above & more + without any of the pesky human rights constraints that Labour is barely clinging on to.

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Reposted by Sile Reynolds

Colin Yeo @colinyeo.bsky.social · Jan 30

New from FM: What is in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill? | Colin Yeo

What is in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill? - Free Movement

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill has landed. It weighs in at 57 clauses ("sections" once it is an Act), two schedules and 74 pages. Let's take

buff.ly

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