Why is our Home Office so toxic?

What I don’t understand is how someone who’s own family were refugees can be so uncaring towards other refugees….

Because they’re Conservatives. Lack of compassion runs through them like a stick of Brighton rock.

All the hotels with 20 miles of where I live , even 5 star, are homing immigrants, yet youngsters sleep on the streets. I would suggest you do your research and find a solution, contact Shelter and see low many homeless we have.

Yes, why don’t the ‘toxic’ Home Office fling open the doors of the UK to all comers? You don’t need to be here to apply for asylum surely.... let anyone in any country apply for it, this will only clog up the paperwork needed to complete their cases for about a thousand years.
How about allowing the HO to do their job which they are trained to do.

lemongrove I did intend to come back and comment that it can't just be because they are Conservatives as I know several people who vote Tory and are actually reasonable, decent folk (though perhaps the wrong class of Conservative) then you come out with that diatribe.

Does this mean that you are the right class of Conservative?

Never mind. I am atheist and I believe in peace and good will to all men all year round so good wishes to you and even more so to the poor, desperate people in Calais hoping to get here. Oh I forgot, they're mainly brown skinned. Is that an extra problem for you?

An idiotic post from you boat....not worth a proper reply.

And I can see I'm not going to get one.

Was going to go into more detail but have suddenly started a massive nosebleed. Nothing to do with you I am sure.

Goodnight, sleep tight.

Just how do they apply without coming here, they can’t apply at a British Embassy anymore and as we saw with Afghan withdrawal applying for help by email was next to useless. This government has absolutely no compassion and Patel is the worse.

So Amber, the 43.6 percent of the population that voted in Conservative in 2019, the biggest landslide victory since 1979, are all lacking compassion, don’t care about refugees, as in previous post you answered, is quite frankly a sweepingly accurate post, insulting to half the population. I wonder if you could tell us how many you have housed and helped with your huge compassionate heart?
Just because we remain private on here does not mean you should insult people.

I was referring to the political party, although I fail to see how anyone with an ounce of compassion could vote for them.

Sadly my “huge compassionate heart” isn’t matched by my living accommodations or I would help house people. As it is, I donate and help out with specific initiatives where I can.

Then again, I’m also not running the Home Office, so it’s not my behaviour in question here.

lemongrove

Yes, why don’t the ‘toxic’ Home Office fling open the doors of the UK to all comers? You don’t need to be here to apply for asylum surely.... let anyone in any country apply for it, this will only clog up the paperwork needed to complete their cases for about a thousand years.
How about allowing the HO to do their job which they are trained to do.

I think the first sentence of your post pretty much sums up your reasons for supporting leave even though you have always, I think, you’ve often said it wasn’t about immigration?

Nosebleed has finally stopped. I think that if it goes on for two hours you are either mortally ill or have had too many Pinot Grigios in the last few Chrismas days. At least I reason it must have had a good effect on my blood pressure.

Hi Allsorts. Seasons Greetings to you.

Was that 43.6 of the population or the people that voted? As I said before I know lovely people who voted Conservative in the last election. It baffles me but there you go.

MayBee70

What I don’t understand is how someone who’s own family were refugees can be so uncaring towards other refugees….

because she thinks they are the right type of refugee

Wow Allsorts That must be quite a humungous number of hotels catering for refugees if you live anywhere near London or in a holiday area. How do you know?

Here in North Warwickshire we don't have your problems.

Personally I would be housing refugees if I didn't live on a 47 foot narrow boat. Take off the aft and front bell deck it's like living in a really small one bedroom flat.

Amber, it is everyone’s responsibility if you live in this country and quite understandable if you are in a bed sit that you cannot take in a refugee. You have to have a spare bed and the wish to do your bit if thats what you want.
Boat, over 100 refugees are housed in a hotel in North Warwickshire , that is the hotels business I know, they have to go somewhere and you cannot magic accommodation in such
numbers, don’t know how you hadn’t heard. It is unfortunate we cannot house all the homeless we have. There is a massive problem in London and Cornwall, people sleeping rough in the streets or in the woods, been a problem for years. People sleep on the street for many reasons and it’s very difficult when sleeping rough to get a normal life again without access to facilities to keep clean, to eat with no money. I am interested in their welfare, but there’s a severe lack of hostels etc to get them on their feet.

I really thought I had seen the last of the spiteful “misnamed
Pritti Patel comment but sadly you have proved me wrong boat.

Won’t bother with the rest of your views as I agree with what lemongrove has already said.

The Home Office has quite an unpleasant reputation in the civil service, always made worse by a toxic minister.

With luck, they won’t have to endure such a toxic bullying minister for too much longer, and perhaps a more progressive minister will begin a change of culture.

As someone who voted Conservative I object to being labelled as not having "an ounce of compassion".

I actively support a charity which helps homeless ex-service personnel, I hand out warm clothing to those I see living on the streets, I am fortunate enough to be able to donate to several charities (including those working with refugees). I would add I was once castigated by a Labour supporting friend for handing money to a man begging on the street. She said because he was reasonably clean he couldn't be homeless - does that mean ALL Labour supporters judge people by their appearance?

It’s not so much lacking compassion, it controlling our borders.
All countries have border controls, it is very difficult to get admitted into the UK legally, most other western countries are similar.
If you are from another country even if you are married to a citizen it is still very difficult, if you ask the liberal minded posters how many migrants should be let into the UK you don’t get an answer. Wether they say they are are Assylum seekers or economic migrants millions would flood into the UK if they could, those that arrive illegally are investigated, they use every device to avoid being deported because they want to take advantage of our society.

We paid for what we have, we struggle to pay for the services our own residents need, many live in poverty, even die because resources are not available.

So I ask again how many migrants should we allow

I really believe that most people are compassionate and that whatever their political persuasion the vast majority of us are generous, kind and contribute all they can to society. Just look at how many of us Grans volunteer and/or work or worked in the caring professions.

The thing I struggle with is that it seems to me that many Conservative policies seem uncompassionate or seem to result it situations that the compassionate people I know vote Conservative can't possibly want e.g. the school dinner thing, the rising need for food banks, ex-servicemen having no home to call their own.

I don't know what Pritti Patel and the Home Office are trying to achieve with their policies, but more information, calmly and clearly, put plus a joined up plan communicated well would help us all understand this awful situation better than the current situation of spin, soundbites and headlines designed to create animosity.

One of the reasons why the HO is toxic is because it has been hopelessly inefficient for many years.

E.g. It failed to implement EU rules on Freedom of Movement because it kept no records of who was coming into the UK from the EU and whether or not they were in work or self supporting, so were unable to ask people to leave who didn't fulfil those necessary conditions. Leaving us wide open to the Leave campaign's assertions that the UK was being 'over run' with EU citizens who had to be supported by the UK. When it came to Brexit the HO had no idea how many EU citizens were in the UK or how many were, or were not, entitled to be here.

Now it is just pandering to a populist agenda that claims we are being swamped by foreigners. Quite a potent claim as can be seen by some responses on this thread.

Of course, the fact that it has, like other public services, been badly affected by the cuts to public expenditure implemented tory governments over the past decade as part of their 'austerity' policies doesn't help. A department that is short of resources cannot work effectively.

Good post Katie59 and I just don't understand how people think we can accommodate unlimited numbers of people. It has nothing to do with the colour of their skin, it's the numbers. We would have the same problem if there were the same number of white people trying to get into the country. There are just too many, and it's endless. As Katie59 says, when would you draw the line? Already we have countless homeless people so how can we accommodate more? Every person who comes here needs a home, education, medical care etc. etc. We are already struggling to provide all these things and it's unfair on those already here who have no home. A country the size of the UK cannot take migrants from 50 other countries.

Allsorts

All the hotels with 20 miles of where I live , even 5 star, are homing immigrants, yet youngsters sleep on the streets. I would suggest you do your research and find a solution, contact Shelter and see low many homeless we have.

You do have a point. The towns nearest me have all taken immigrants into hotels and flats. Successive Governments have ignored our homeless people. It makes me see red where ex-servicemen and many other people, often through no fault of their own, are sleeping rough yet we find homes for immigrants. The Home Office hasn't been fit for purpose for donkey's years and most of the Home Secretaries have been as weak as water. The only time the homeless get noticed by the powers that be is when the UK is hosting something like the Olympics, then they get given temporary accommodation so they don't clutter up the place. Shameful.

Katie59

It’s not so much lacking compassion, it controlling our borders.
All countries have border controls, it is very difficult to get admitted into the UK legally, most other western countries are similar.
If you are from another country even if you are married to a citizen it is still very difficult, if you ask the liberal minded posters how many migrants should be let into the UK you don’t get an answer. Wether they say they are are Assylum seekers or economic migrants millions would flood into the UK if they could, those that arrive illegally are investigated, they use every device to avoid being deported because they want to take advantage of our society.

We paid for what we have, we struggle to pay for the services our own residents need, many live in poverty, even die because resources are not available.

So I ask again how many migrants should we allow

It is no use putting a figure to it because even the Government cannot keep to their own estimates. Geographically we are a small country and realistically we cannot keep absorbing so many immigrants into the UK. I worked in the NHS for years and with so many lovely people from other countries who came here for a better life. They were working hard to provide that for their families. That's all fine with me. What I don't want to see are the criminal gangs entering our country freely. Prostitution, drugs, human trafficking, terrorists, pickpocketing, grooming to name a few. The vast majority of people involved in these organisations are immigrant somewhere along the line. We have enough white criminals we don't need to import them.