Hastings and Bexhill Stand Up to Racism unequivocally condemns the Labour government’s new asylum and refugee policies. These measures represent a disgraceful capitulation to the racist narrative pushed by Reform UK and the far-right. By adopting their language and their assumptions, Labour is not undercutting the scapegoating of vulnerable people, it is legitimising it.
We call on our local MP, Helena Dollimore, to speak out publicly and to vote against these proposals.
The government’s plans include making refugee protection temporary and precarious, slashing the rights and supports available to those seeking safety, extending the wait for settlement to 20 years, limiting family reunion rights and expanding the powers to remove people even after they have begun rebuilding their lives here. Most shockingly, the proposals include the power to confiscate refugees’ jewellery and personal valuables to pay for their support — a practice made infamous by the Nazis. Such measures are performative cruelty.
Why we reject these proposals
First, the entire policy package is based on the false premise that the UK is ‘overwhelmed’. The UK takes far fewer asylum seekers than many of our European neighbours, including France. And compared with the global South, where countries with far fewer resources host millions, the UK’s share is tiny. Instead of responding with compassion and clear pathways to settlement, the government chooses suspicion, deterrence and cruelty.
Second, the proposals strip people of dignity and basic security. By telling refugees they must earn the right to stay, wait decades, and live under constant review, the government is promoting the same logic as the far-right: newcomers are only tolerated if they are ‘useful’ and obedient. The plan to seize jewellery — often the last remaining link to loved ones or the only item a person could carry while fleeing — is deliberately cruel, humiliating, and contrary to the most basic norms of humanity.
Third, scapegoating refugees doesn’t just harm those seeking sanctuary. It fuels a political climate in which all migrants, and all people with Black or Brown skin or foreign-sounding names, face greater discrimination, suspicion and hostility. This narrative divides working-class communities and distracts from the real drivers of inequality and insecurity: wealth inequality, corporate power, austerity and decades of underinvestment. In addition, the proposals require changes to the legal interpretation of the ECHR which sets a dangerous precedent and fuels the intention to dismantle all our protected freedoms.
Fourth, these proposals do not reflect who we are in Hastings. Ours is a Community of Sanctuary, where residents, schools, community groups and volunteers have consistently demonstrated generosity, solidarity and practical support for those arriving in need. These policies are an affront to that tradition — and we urge Helena Dollimore MP to reflect the values of her constituency by rejecting them outright.
We call on our local MP, Helena Dollimore, to speak out publicly and to vote against these proposals.
The government’s plans include making refugee protection temporary and precarious, slashing the rights and supports available to those seeking safety, extending the wait for settlement to 20 years, limiting family reunion rights and expanding the powers to remove people even after they have begun rebuilding their lives here. Most shockingly, the proposals include the power to confiscate refugees’ jewellery and personal valuables to pay for their support a practice made infamous by the Nazis. Such measures are performative cruelty.
Why we reject these proposals
First, the entire policy package is based on the false premise that the UK is ‘overwhelmed’. The UK takes far fewer asylum seekers than many of our European neighbours, including France. And compared with the global South, where countries with far fewer resources host millions, the UK’s share is tiny. Instead of responding with compassion and clear pathways to settlement, the government chooses suspicion, deterrence and cruelty.
Second, the proposals strip people of dignity and basic security. By telling refugees they must earn the right to stay, wait decades, and live under constant review, the government is promoting the same logic as the far-right: newcomers are only tolerated if they are ‘useful’ and obedient. The plan to seize jewellery often the last remaining link to loved ones or the only item a person could carry while fleeing is deliberately cruel, humiliating, and contrary to the most basic norms of humanity.
Third, scapegoating refugees doesn’t just harm those seeking sanctuary. It fuels a political climate in which all migrants, and all people with Black or Brown skin or foreign-sounding names, face greater discrimination, suspicion and hostility. This narrative divides working-class communities and distracts from the real drivers of inequality and insecurity: wealth inequality, corporate power, austerity and decades of underinvestment. In addition, the proposals require changes to the legal interpretation of the ECHR which sets a dangerous precedent and fuels the intention to dismantle all our protected freedoms.
Fourth, these proposals do not reflect who we are in Hastings. Ours is a Community of Sanctuary, where residents, schools, community groups and volunteers have consistently demonstrated generosity, solidarity and practical support for those arriving in need. These policies are an affront to that tradition and we urge Helena Dollimore MP to reflect the values of her constituency by rejecting them outright.
The direction of travel
When governments begin to single out a vulnerable minority, portray them as a threat, strip away their rights and subject them to special humiliations, history tells us where this can lead. Today it is temporary status, curtailed rights and the threat of removal. What comes next? Will Labour insist refugees to sew a yellow R on their clothing so that the public knows who to fear? The spectre of 1930s fascism is not fanciful when the logic of exclusion is inscribed into law.
Hastings and Bexhill SUTR stands with refugees, migrants and all communities under attack.
We call on Helena Dollimore MP to speak out and vote against these proposals, and we call on the Labour leadership to abandon this race-to-the-bottom politics of cruelty. Our town, our movement and our values demand something better: compassion, solidarity and justice.
Hastings and Bexhill Stand Up to Racism 