Thank you for picking organisations that support refugees in your 2023 charity appeal, and for the clear and moving explanation as to why offering protection to refugees is a sign of a civilised society (Help us support refugees facing destitution to rebuild their lives in safety, 8 December).
It is difficult to comprehend how our national discourse has become so badly warped. We have a government competing as to who can behave in the harshest way to other human beings who have suffered wars, persecution and trauma. And we have an opposition party that is so scared by rightwing pressure and headlines that all it seems to talk about is the cost of the Rwanda scheme and the government’s incompetence.
What on earth happened to the moral compass of the Labour party? It should be standing up for the principle of offering protection to refugees and seeking to change this dreadful rhetoric instead of colluding with it.
My experience – and that of many others – is that people seeking asylum and refugees want to be part of our society. They want their children to have an education, they want to work and contribute. It is personally so enriching to meet them, but also so depressing to know how hard their lives have been and may continue to be.
Linda Lennard
St Albans
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