Last weekend streets in Carlisle were targeted with a leafleting campaign by Far-Right activist group, Patriotic Alternative. Patriotic Alternative was founded by the British neo-Nazi and antisemitic conspiracy theorist Mark Collett who has featured in a Channel 4 documentary on the BNP – Young, Nazi and Proud. Members of the group have included people convicted of disseminating terrorist materials that incite violent attacks. Part of the Patriotic Alternative’s manifesto includes deporting people who aren’t white and counterterrorism experts have reported that Patriotic Alternative were one of the many far-right groups using YouTube to try and recruit people, including children as young as 12.
In response to the leafleting, community organisations Carlisle Refugee Action Group, Anti Racist Cumbria, Carlisle One World Centre, Cumbria Development Education Centre and Penrith & Eden Refugee Network, have united behind a statement shared by a local community volunteer at Carlisle Refugee Action Group. His statement said;
“Last week Carlisle streets experienced a toxic attack by the far-right, British neo-Nazi and white supremacist group, Patriotic Alternative (PA).
Individuals attached to this organisation have been spreading vitriol and hatred with leaflets posted into our city’s homes. They launched a blanket assault on people of overseas origin and especially people who aren’t white.
They conveniently forget the people they attack are people who work across the nation supporting everything from the NHS to public transport, fruit picking to hospitality. People who look after the sick and care for the elderly, people who create wealth, pay taxes and strengthen the economy. People who enrich society and culture with art, food and music. People who help broaden our understanding of the world and raise us up beyond simple-minded prejudices and ignorance. People who are people.
The white supremacist poison this organisation is trying to spread has no place on the streets of Carlisle nor any other part of Britain. Their attempts to blame our country’s ills (even traffic jams!) on people who aren’t white shows the contempt and hatred they have for us all as they try to treat us like fools. We believe Carlisle, Cumbria, in fact Britain knows better.
Their messages are a disgrace to the many people from across the globe who fought and died for the protection and construction of a modern Britain. Their messages are a disgrace to every decent person working to bring up smart, healthy children free from bigotry. Their messages are a disgrace to all those working hard to build a better future.
Their message of hatred is inhumane and poisons their own humanity like a disease, a disease now trying to infect us. Don’t let them. We can choose to work together to tackle the true sources of our problems instead of vainly attacking scapegoats.
White supremacy and neo-Nazism is truly repugnant and should be resisted by grans and grandads, mums and dads, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and family and everyone with a stake in a fair and brighter world for us all. We must all do this because white supremacy is not always as obvious as PA leafleting but is a hierarchical ideology that divides us all.
Solidarity against racism and for a fair and brighter future for us all.”
We hear the passion in this man’s words, we feel the need for them and here at Anti Racist Cumbria we call for our communities to take action. To embrace anti-racism. To recognise that being ‘not racist’ about the seemingly small stuff is what creates a breeding ground for these more vitriolic views to take hold and grow in confidence. Show you don’t stand for racism in any form, in any place. Choose anti-racism each and every day.
So what are the facts?
Make no mistake, the Patriotic Alternative calls for an ‘all white’ Britain, we are sure most people would be appalled at the idea of deporting people who are already settled here but their and government rhetoric continues to whip up hate towards people coming into the country and that rhetoric is dangerous. So what are the facts about people arriving in this country, whether as refugees, seeking asylum or to study or work.
1. The country is flooded with refugees and Britain takes more than its fair share
There is absolutely no evidence for this. Asylum applications to the UK are relatively low – 74,000 in the year to December 2022. The UK ranks 19th in Europe for asylum applications per head of population. France receives almost twice as many asylum applications as the UK, Germany almost three time the amount.
Cumbria itself is one of the largest and least populated counties in the UK.
2. They are all here illegally
There is no such thing as an illegal person seeking asylum. International law states that anyone has the right to apply for asylum in another country and remain there until the authorities have assessed their claim. All refugees have gone through this arduous process; people seeking asylum are often ‘in limbo’ for years while their claims are processed.
3. Letting in refugees means we let in terrorists
People seeking asylum are fingerprinted, photographed and security checked before being issued with ID cards. They have to report regularly to immigration centres and can be detained at any point during their application process.
4. They all want to come to Britain
This is not true. The great majority of refugees and people seeking asylum (86% according to the UNHCR) are in some of the poorest countries in the world, often near or next to war zones. Countries hosting the most refugees include Turkey (3.7m), Pakistan (1.5m), Uganda (1.5m) and Sudan,(11m). Germany hosts 2.2 million refugees.
Refugees are here because they are escaping war and persecution in their country of origin. Some come to Britain, often because they have family here.
5. People seeking asylum get to stay in hotels
When an people seeking asylum arrives in the UK, they are unlikely to know anyone here or have anywhere to go. The Home Office will house them in an initial accommodation centre. This is a temporary measure before they’re moved on elsewhere, to something more permanent. But pressures on the system mean that sometimes these centres are full – and barracks, hotels and B&Bs are used as ‘overspill’. When placed in a hotel on arrival in the UK people get no allowance.
After some weeks in a hotel they get around £9.00 per week.
6.They take our houses
People seeking asylum are housed under a separate system and are not competing on local housing lists. They have no choice in where they are housed and are often placed in hard to let properties. Due to a housing shortage in London and south-east England, most people seeking asylum are sent where accommodation is cheaper. The Home Office calls it ‘dispersal’. They don’t get council houses, as people seeking asylum cannot access this standard welfare, only specific asylum support.
When someone gets refugee status, they can no longer stay in asylum accommodation. They can choose where to live, but they have to pay for their rent or ask for government help – like any UK citizen. (But without the family ties or support that many of us take for granted.)
The relatively small number of refugees who come to the UK under specific resettlement schemes may be placed in social housing.
7. They don’t want to work and don’t contribute
The fact is that refugees do overwhelmingly work and pay taxes.
People seeking asylum cannot work until they get refugee status. They bring a wide range of skills and, once they are allowed to work, they often fill shortages in the UK employment market.
8. They receive lots of benefits
People seeking asylum cannot claim benefits.
If they are destitute and have no other means of supporting themselves, they can apply to receive asylum support. They are provided with basic accommodation and receive around £6 per day to cover all their needs including food, household items, travel and internet. Refugees are entitled to the same benefits as anyone else.
Delays by the Home Office in processing asylum applications (in breach of their own standards) means that many people seeking asylum are stuck in limbo for many years, without permission to work.
9. The Council Tax goes up because of refugees
Much of asylum and resettlement refugee support is funded by the UK foreign aid budget and not local government, so there is no effect on council tax.
10. They take our jobs
There no evidence that refugees take jobs away from others. Some refugees are entrepreneurs and start new businesses creating employment.
11. Migrants are a drain on public services
Migrants are less likely to claim welfare benefits or live in social housing than people born in the UK. They are 3 times more likely to live in the private rented sector. Migrants are more likely to be young, healthy, well qualified and therefore contribute more to the tax and benefits scheme than they receive. They deliver vital services in areas such as social care, education, construction and particularly in the National Health Service.
