No Borders Activists Cycle through Heavy Rain to raise more than £300

By Anonymous, submitted on Thu, 05/11/2009 - 10:55

Last weekend, a group of sponsored cyclists set off from central Glasgow on a 56 mile journey to Edinburgh to raise money for No Borders. Heavy downpours, cold and wind hit them hard for the first part of the trek, but many of them persevered to the coast of the Firth of Forth and raised £330 to put into the No Borders Voucher Scheme.

Asylum seekers are not allowed to work, and forced to live on only £35 per week. To make matters worse, they don’t receive this money in cash, but in supermarket vouchers which severely limits their shopping and forces them into supermarkets like ASDA and Sainsbury’s which may not be anywhere near where they live. They vouchers are extremely stigmatizing and since they are meant to be for ‘necessities’ only, many people have been turned away from buying juice or baby nappies.

The No Borders Voucher Scheme buys the vouchers from asylum seekers and gives them cash, which allows them much more freedom. Buying the vouchers is a quick, practical way to show support and solidarity with asylum seekers. It’s easy and it’s free! If you’re interested in buying supermarket vouchers or getting involved with No Borders Scotland, contact nobordersscotland@noflag.org.uk, or visit the website at http://noborderscotland.wordpress.com/.

Comments

Re: No Borders Activists Cycle through Heavy Rain to raise more than £300

By Anonymous, submitted on Thu, 05/11/2009 - 13:03

Why should takes payers have to fork out to pay for people who are in this country illegaly? If we increase benefits it will only encourage more spongers to smuggle themselves into our country.

Re: No Borders Activists Cycle through Heavy Rain to raise more than £300

By Jon B, submitted on Thu, 05/11/2009 - 14:32

Anonymous wrote:
Why should takes payers have to fork out to pay for people who are in this country illegaly? If we increase benefits it will only encourage more spongers to smuggle themselves into our country.

Asylum Seekers are not in the country illegally, mate, they are in the legal process of claiming asylum.

Also, according to this governments own reports Asylum seekers do not come to the UK to claim benefits. Most know very little about asylum or benefits systems before they arrive. (Home Office, Understanding the decision-making of asylum seekers, July 2002). They come here to work, but often arn't allowed.

Some good information on why refugees come to the UK, and what happens when they are here can be found here.

The real "spongers" dont smuggle themselves into the country - they are the toffs and tories who were born here, do very little work and claim MP's expenses and bailouts for the banks that they own or are the boss of.