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Thread:- My husband’s parents were refugees in WWII. Their parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, friends, and neighbours almost all died in concentration camps, or on their way to the camps. They each served the war effort (he as a chemical engineer, she as a translator). 1/9
After the war, the UK became their home. They worked, paid taxes, started a company around their kitchen table that went on to employ over a hundred people, who in turn paid taxes. They donated to local causes, became British, and proud of the company that adopted them. 2/9
Their children and later their grandchildren grew up here, went to school here, worked here, paid taxes, and in some cases, started small businesses that employed local people and contributed to the local economy. 3/9
This is the reality of refugees. 80 years on, this family still appreciates that their parents/grandparents were welcomed here, and were given the opportunity to show their appreciation by hard work, and by serving their community. 4/9
This is part of the fabric of my life – my children are the grandchildren of refugees – but I recognise that other people have different experiences. Nevertheless, surely the UK is a country that welcomes the unfortunate? Or at least listens, before turning away the needy? 5/9
I have just learned that the Home Office is to deport next week a bunch of Yemeni, Kurdish and other asylum seekers. Perhaps they would not all be successful in their applications for asylum here. But they should surely be allowed to put their case. 6/9
By giving so little notice, and by electing to send back so many people at once, the Home Office has ensured that the legal aid and volunteer lawyers who are able to represent them are too inundated with requests to take them all on. Likewise interpreters. 7/9
By denying these people time and representation by someone who knows the law, and an interpreter so that they can speak to the court, the Home Office is trampling on their human rights. 8/9
My children’s grandparents were so proud to become British, so loyal to the country that gave them sanctuary. I am sorry to say that I am becoming more and more ashamed of my country. 9/9
