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If there was one message that came across loud and clear from last week's London conference on the UK's asylum policy, it was that integration needs to start on day one of arrival. It stands to reason of course. If you lock people up, shift them from pillar to post, starve them of resources, threaten to deport them and generally make them feel like unwelcome pariahs, you can hardly expect them to fit in when, up to two years later, you finally grudgingly agree they have a right to stay. By then resentment has built up to such an extent that those people are never going to see the UK as home even though they are unable to return to their country of origin.


The government has said it is committed to promoting integration and community cohesion, pledging to tackle what the Cantle report described as "communities living in parallel lines". Yet this week the High Court heard that the withdrawal of benefits from asylum seekers was leaving people destitute on the streets, denied food and shelter with increasing numbers falling prey to mental health problems.

So where are the moves to provide a bridge between the parallel communities? The government seems oblivious to the widening gap which is storing up huge problems for the future. Meanwhile, many local authorities have spectacularly failed in their attempts at integration thanks to a combination of lack of leadership from local politicians and community leaders, and lack of funds from national government.


The popular myth is that the UK is a land of milk and honey for asylum seekers but the fact is that other countries such as Canada are streets ahead of us in their treatment of refugees. The High Court heard details of an official letter to asylum seekers living in telephone boxes and car parks telling them to register with a local post office so they can receive official communications.

Some argue you cannot legislate for a feeling of belonging. But you can at least treat people as human beings.