Ask your MP to pledge to advocate for safe routes:
Dear ,
I am writing to you as one of my parliamentary candidates in the upcoming General Election. As your constituent, I am asking you to show your support for refugees and champion routes to safety for people seeking protection here in the UK – will you sign the pledge below?
Right now, men, women and children have no choice but to take a dangerous journey to the UK to ask for protection here. They have fled war, persecution and human rights abuses, and are simply trying to reunite with family and rebuild their lives.
Most of us believe that if we were forced to flee our homes, we should be able to seek protection safely – I certainly do. The reality is, however, that most refugees have no safe route open to them. The few safe routes to the UK that do exist are defective and dysfunctional. I fear that the failure of governments to open safe routes is leaving smugglers and traffickers to fill the gap.
The best way to save lives and put smugglers out of business is for the next Government to urgently open safe routes for refugees. The success of the UK’s response to the Ukraine crisis shows that safe routes work, and can drastically reduce the need for dangerous journeys.
Ahead of the election, will you show your support for safe routes for refugees by signing this pledge?
“I pledge to advocate for safe routes for refugees in Parliament, if I am elected. Refugees urgently need #RoutesToSafety, routes to family, routes to hope.”
To sign the pledge or to ask any questions, please email pledge@safepassage.org.uk.
As a voter, I want to see political parties put compassion before political point-scoring and make welcoming refugees a priority. Instead of hostile policies, I want the future government to focus on routes to safety. You can read more about the solutions in Safe Passage’s general election manifesto: https://www.safepassage.org.uk/reports/general-elections-2024-our-manifesto
I look forward to hearing from you.
As a local resident please write to the Leader and Members of Ely District Council
and demonstrate a willingness to welcome refugees to our community. Personalised messages are better but here is some sample text. You can find your local councillor here.
Dear ,
I am writing to ask you to increase the housing available for refugees within our community. There is continuing turbulence and displacement across the world – from Syria to Afghanistan to Ukraine and throughout Sub Saharan Africa. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees identified 108.4 million people, including 43.3 million children, as displaced at the end of 2022.
In 2021 the East of England was bottom of the UK league table for providing refuge for asylum seekers and resettling refugees.
I ask you to respond compassionately to this humanitarian crisis and take advantage of available central government support. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LAHF), for example, has a £500 million capital fund, available to local authorities in England, specifically to provide accommodation for families who have arrived in the UK via Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement and relocation schemes.
This would not only help address a pressing need but also contribute to a sustainable stock of affordable housing for the future.
South Cambridgeshire District Council has set a precedent and committed to supporting up to 12 refugee families (c. 48 individuals) over a three year period from 2020. We urge you as our elected representatives in Ely to consider doing the same.
I look forward to hearing from you.