THE Harlow Labour Group has issued a response to the news that the Home Office has been considering using new properties in Wych Elm to house close to 400 asylum seekers.

Harlow Labour statement is as follows: “Since 2018 unprocessed asylum claims have risen from 24,000 to a massive 161,000. These people are stuck in limbo due to the failures of Robert Halfon and his Conservative Government.  Now only 10% of asylum claims are processed within 6 months in contrast to 80% in 2014, this despite a five-fold increase in the number of claims-processing staff.

Labour would end the use of unsuitable accommodation to house asylum cases by speeding up the processing of asylum applications and setting up a new task force to crack down on criminal smuggling gangs.

Harlow is a welcoming town and we have always been a community which does what it can to support people in need.  However, the Labour Party has concerns about proposals by the Conservative government to house 400 asylum seekers in Wych Elm without adequate support.

Harlow Labour would love to see this new development occupied by local residents but it will not pander to the whipping up of anti-immigrant sentiment to achieve that goal.

The letter written by Harlows MP acknowledges the NHS is under intolerable pressure.  Schools are struggling to cope, roads are falling apart, social care is all but non-existent, GP surgeries are at breaking point, crime is rising and our long-promised replacement for Princess Alexandra Hospital is still nothing more than a pipe dream.  Harlow Labour disagrees with none of those assertions; it’s spoken about them many times. All of the issues identified are the responsibility of Robert Halfon and 13 years of his Conservative Government, not of asylum seekers.

For those wondering why there was a short period of silence before Harlow Labour responded it’s simply that the signatories to the letter had knowledge of the situation a week before we did. We took time to give a considered response rather than the knee-jerk reactions seen elsewhere. We think an issue of this nature warrants a serious cross-party conversation before any public statement is made.  The Conservatives thought differently and decided to play partisan politics instead.

The next Harlow Labour administration pledges not to play political games with people’s lives but to properly consult with other parties before issuing statements on matters of such importance.

Harlow Labour Group

Asylum backlog hits 160,000 in major headache for Government  – Migration Observatory – The Migration Observatory (ox.ac.uk)