Skip to main content
Allowing asylum seekers to work makes sense
CLAUDIA WEBBE MP argues that granting all migrants indefinite leave to remain and the ability to work will only strengthen the power of our class — as well as boosting the economy
DESPERATE TO WORK: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness, Kent, after being rescued in the Channel, December 9 2022

WE can learn a lot from those who experience and resist the British asylum system.

Under current rules, asylum-seekers are not permitted to work except in very rare “exceptional” circumstances. Neither are they allowed to claim normal welfare benefits, forcing them to rely on a tiny amount of state support.

That support is meagre at best: under £41 a week per person — less than £6 a day for essentials, let alone for activities where they and their children can make friends and integrate into communities.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
COMPASSION NEEDED: Demonstrators hold signs during a rally against federal immigration enforcement at Federal Courthouse Plaza, Minneapolis, on Tuesday January 27
Features / 29 January 2026
29 January 2026

A society that grows accustomed to ‘undesirable’ people also grows accustomed to undesirable deaths. Minneapolis serves as a wake-up call, including for our own refugee policies, writes MARC VANDEPITTE

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaking after Lucy Powell is announced as the new Deputy Leader of the Labour Party at an event in central London. Picture date: Saturday October 25, 2025
Human Rights / 29 November 2025
29 November 2025

DIANE ABBOTT warns that Shabana Mahmood’s draconian asylum proposals fuel racist scapegoating and risk demoralising Labour’s base – potentially paving the way for Farage to No 10

Fanning the flames of fascism: Starmer’s betrayal of the working class
Features / 23 September 2025
23 September 2025

CLAUDIA WEBBE argues that Labour gains nothing from its adoption of right-wing stances on immigration, and seems instead to be deliberately paving the way for the far right to become an established force in British politics, as it has already in Europe

Home Office of Border Force officers process small boat migrants detained, under the UK's new ‘one in, one out’ deal with France, at the Manston Immigration Processing Centre in Kent before relocation to the Immigration Removal Centre to await their return to France, August 7 2025
Features / 6 September 2025
6 September 2025

DIANE ABBOTT exposes the misconceptions, rumours and downright lies perpetrated around immigration issues