AN SNP MP will today present a bill in the House of Commons to grant asylum seekers the right to work in the UK in a bid to overturn the ban imposed by the UK Government.
Currently, people seeking asylum in the UK are only able to apply for the right to work after they have been waiting for a decision on their asylum claim for more than a year.
And those then granted such permission are rarely able to work in practice because their employment is restricted to the UK Government’s Shortage Occupation List.
Many of those seeking refugee status in the UK are living on just £5.39 a day whilst they wait months or even years for a decision on their asylum claim.
A report by Lift the Ban Coalition found that 71% of people in the UK agree that people seeking asylum should be allowed to work.
In October, a petition with 181,399 was handed to the Home Office calling for the ban to be lifted.
If passed, SNP MP for Glasgow North West Carol Monaghan’s Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) Bill would overturn the ban and grant permission to work to asylum seekers who have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application.
Monaghan called the UK Government’s treatment of refugees “shameful” and urged them to back her bill at Westminster.
She said: “The Tory government’s treatment of refugees is shameful – and wholesale reform of the UK’s broken asylum system is long-overdue, including lifting the ban preventing asylum seekers from working.”
She continued: “It cannot be right that some of the most vulnerable people in our society are left languishing in poverty, while they wait many months or years for the Home Office to make an asylum decision.
“People who have risked everything to find safety in the UK should have the best chance of contributing to our society and integrating into our communities. They should be able to use their skills to live in dignity.
“I urge the UK Government to back my bill.”
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