The PCS union’s Safe Passage Visa Policy has widespread support, but since it was launched in November 2022 the government has doubled down on its disgraceful treatment of refugees.
You can support PCS’s call for a Safe Passage policy by emailing your MP to tell them why this is the best and only answer to stop the boats and save lives.
In the first half of 2023, nearly 11,500 refugees have made the perilous journey to cross the Channel. And on a single day in July 2023, a new daily record was set when over 600 people arrived in small boats.
Every life lost because of these journeys is wholly preventable and a reminder of just how little the government values the life of some of the most desperate people imaginable.
From the Rwanda policy, to the failed attempts to push boats back in the Channel, to housing refugees in dangerous and unsafe barges, nothing has worked. Far from solving the problem, these heartless and inhumane policies have inflicted even more suffering on traumatised refugees.
In the face of this cruelty, and with an ever-present risk of more avoidable deaths, the time for a Safe Passage Visa scheme has never been greater. Neither of the two main political parties has a humane solution, despite cross-party support for Safe Passage in both the House of Commons and the Lords.
Too many people have died and more lives will be lost unless something is done. That something is Safe Passage and its time is now.
Take two minutes to email your MP today.
