Parties Sign Asylum Pledge

posted: 22/04/2010

Party leaders and many general election candidates have signed an election pledge to "never play fast and loose" with the UK's commitment to offering asylum.
 

Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and hundreds of parliamentary candidates have signed up to the pledge organised by three rights organisations. Liberty, once called the national council for civil liberties, along with the Refugee Council and the Scottish Refugee Council are all campaigning for the Asylum Election Pledge.

HIV and asylum

A significant proportion of people with HIV in the UK are people who have sought or are applying for asylum (13% in NW England), so the treatment of asylum seekers is a significant HIV issue. At the end of 2007, there were 600 asylum seekers with HIV still waiting for a decision in NW England - and 162 who have been formally granted asylum so far. The majority are people who have fled the political and social crisis in Zimbabwe.  
 

Abhor racism and xenophobia in political debate

The pledge states that there is no room for "racism and xenophobia in modern British politics". It asks the signatories to accept that "no democratic debate is advanced by the denigration of the most vulnerable in our country" and to remember those who do not have the right to vote in elections.
The pledge declares:

"I promise to remember the importance of refugee protection, even in free and wide-ranging debates about immigration policy. I will never play hard and loose with the proud tradition of a nation that must always offer succour to those in genuine fear of persecution."

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said: "It is very good news that even in the heat of election battle, all three leaders have promised to honour the importance of refugee protection. No one should underestimate the ocean of common decency in Britain and we intend to hold our politicians to this proud tradition."
 

Get your candidates to sign up before May 6

The pledge will be open until May 6th and Liberty want you to urge your election candidates to sign up. Check if your constituency candidates have signed
 

If your constituency candidates haven’t yet signed the pledge, please ask them here to sign - it's quick and easy.

The top countries of origin for refugees coming to the UK in 2009 were Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Iran, China, Sri Lanka, and Eritrea. The UK is home to less than two per cent of the world’s refugees, with 80 per cent living in developing countries.
 

Source
 

Health Party Politics

posted: 13/04/2010

The health policies and the manifestos of the three main political parties in England are on their websites.

Conservative health policy        Conservative manifesto              

Liberal Democrat health policy   Liberal Democrat manifesto      

Labour health policy                Labour manifesto

Keep Free Prescription Promise

posted: 07/12/2009

A simple email now to your MP could help Gordon Brown keep his promise. Over a year ago, at the Labour Party 2008 conference, Gordon Brown pledged to scrap prescription charges for all people with long-term medical conditions, including HIV. He didn’t say when he would scrap the prescription charges, leaving us all waiting in the dark. We are still waiting.
 

People with some health problems never have to pay prescription charges. But the list of conditions that passport people to free prescriptions hasn’t been updated since it was written in 1968. HIV is not on the list, simply because HIV was discovered almost twenty years after the list was made.

While HIV medicines themselves come free because they are prescribed by the hospital, other medicines (for depression, anxiety, and everything else) have to be paid for.

Many people with HIV have no right to free prescriptions and these costs rapidly mount up. Some people cannot afford to collect the drugs they need from the chemist.
 

Actions, not words

Please email your MP to ask the Secretary of State for Health for the abolition of prescription charges for people with HIV and other long-term conditions.
 

Easy-peasy

Simply click the link, then add your details and it will write a custom letter from you to your MP – please be patient while it writes your personalised letter.
 

Disunited Kingdom

Each prescription item now costs £7.20 in England. Wales has already abolished prescription charges, Northern Ireland abolishes them in 2010 and Scotland will abolish them by 2011 - meanwhile Scotland is cutting the cost year by year - they are £4 now and will be £3 from April. England? they went up in April again to £7.20.