To ask where I can send my 57p?

[drspouse]

According to the Mirror if all the asylum seekers currently in Calais came into the UK and (highly unlikely) never paid any tax, it would cost each of us 57p.
To save a group of people from some of the most unimaginable horrors in their home countries, I'm more than happy to pay that.
So, where do I sign to pay up (and make it clear I'm happy for them to officially seek asylum and have their claims verified)?

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/not-migrant-hordes--people-6165167

I think all you wishy washy types donating your 57p need to volunteer to go and work frontline in the NHS for a month.

And THEN come back and start this thread with new found insight about the reality.

I've worked for the NHS and LA and HMPS I'm still quite happy to donate

hahahaha oh dear - I am happy to be wishy washy and I donated £5:70 - and I work with Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children - so bite me

Oh goody! We got back to insult as a form of effective debate before I went to bed! I was starting to fear that this thread had lost its mojo.

Does anyone know if there's a place to donate money/clothes/blankets etc to the people living in the Jungle? I would be really keen to donate or organise something for them - just look at the conditions they're living in

Mindful people can hold a different view to you that, despite its difference, is just as educated, and experienced, and learned.

Thinking that someone holds an opposing view only because they are less educated or less experienced than you seems daft, and a little patronising.

mindful, I'll be up at 6am to be ready for my long shift tomorrow as a front line nhs worker. As I said, I'm happy to be wishy washy, lefty and look after people who need it. Even right wing bigots!

there is a link up page to the refuge council x not sure about specific French based agencies

I'll happily donate to help my fellow humans and I welcome them here.

610,000 empty homes in the UK.

We're FULL, I tell you.

Ha tracy! Actually, there's a nice little 3 bed semi opposite me which is empty.

I would prefer to take in asylum seekers who have followed proper procedures and gone into an EU wide dispersal programme.

The people who are in Calais at the moment have been proven to be prepared to commit criminal acts and acts of violence in order to get what they want, which is to live in the UK. They're not fleeing in fear for their lives or from war or violence. They're prepared to commit these acts just to get what they want.

I do not believe that as soon as they set foot on British they're suddenly going to turn into model citizens. They're still going to be capable of behaving in exactly the same way should somebody stand in the way of getting what they want.

We should take a quota of the asylum seekers who've come through the proper channels. The ones in Calais should be arrested and charged when they are trespassing, destroying property and threatening people and their asylum claims processed while they are held securely.

Incidentally, the figures that the Mirror are quoting would work out at about £35 million. If we take the ones who are there now it would mean that even more people would be attracted to Calais and we'd end up a couple of months down the line with double the amount of people, so we'll take them in, that will be £100 million, then even more will come and if we keep taking them, by this time next year we will be looking at £500 million. Plus it's easy to bandy that figure about, but if we let everyone in Sangatte in tomorrow where will we magic the accommodation from? There is virtually no unoccupied social housing, I can't see many private landlords being keen to let. Where do you magic 5,000 beds from overnight? We'd probably have to build some sort of temporary camp. Kind of like Sangatte...

Aside from the city and Westminster most of those homes are in places like North Norfolk, Pembrokeshire and North Yorkshire. Even if we were to offer them I suspect that in the main they wouldn't be wanted. Particularly as the people in Calais have made it very clear that they want to go to exactly where they choose and not simply a safe place which is offered.

Plus what do you propose is done? Sell homes of people in hospitals or care homes? Strip people of an asset they have spent most of their life earnings to pay for, even if that will mean the asset that would be paying for their care in later life is gone?

I wonder how British families struggling to pay their rent would feel if somebody rocked up in Dover and was given a nice little holiday cottage?

By all means introduce a tax on second homes encouraging people to sell up. But forcibly stripping people of an asset they've earned to give to someone whose sole contribution to European society is assisting in causing chaos would probably cause quite a bit of bad feeling.

I'm delighted that so many mnetters aren't buying into the idea that people are travelling from Syria to sign-on for £60 a week. My faith in human nature is slightly restored. Thank you.

I'd happily pay £57 to prevent a few families from having a truly shit life, despite not receiving sufficient taxable income to pay a penny in tax.

Whether what is currently being focused on by the meeja is the full story or not, I'm finding the hateful hysteria behind it quite intolerable.

TracyBarlow did you actually read the statistics you linked to?OfF the '610,000' so-called empty homes only 200,000 are really empty.The others are the period between one tenant/owner moving out and the next moving in.Of the remaining 200,000 a large proprtion are deemed not fit for habitation and waiting essential major repairs or demolition.
Meanwhile the IPPR are predicting a housing shortfall of 750,000 homes over the next 10 years.

57pence per UK person is £17m - covers the 5,000 people currently in Calais at £3,000 a head, so one years benefit (based on a UK average per the Mirror's calculation).
Africa has a population of 1.1 billion, so 200,000 times as many.
To solve the crisis through benefits alone would cost us £100,000 per UK person per year - after all, why support those who have crossed borders and not those who have stayed at home?
Alternatively they could trade thier way into a better life if the EU dropped import duty for African goods, and we would all also save money.

Carol, Africa is a continent. Do you honestly think the whole population wants to come here? There is some hilarious, hysterical UKIP style maths going on in this thread.

Me too.

That poor charity is now going receive a huge number of 57p donations - each of which will almost certainly cost more than 57p to process and account for. Much better for one person to have collected them and donated at the end.

late breakfast very good point, I've donated a fiver.

I believe no human should have to live in fear and need. Many of those attempting to come here are from former colonies and as such many have grown up believing in Great Britain as a place of hope and justice.
You can bet they'd be on the front line fighting for us if needed.
If I could be sure it would het to the right place/people I'd make a donation now of much more than 57p a week.

PurpleSwift umm, if i was worried about my twitter .being linked to my mn, i wouldnt have posted on the thread that i had tweeted

Well if we literally run out of houses, buck house has quite a few bedrooms...

If we are ever unfortunate enough to experience civil war and displacement of the population on a grand scale, I trust that those trying to keep the migrants out will quietly stay at home with their families, ensuring they don't become a bother for other countries.

Yes, your daughter might get raped but hey, that's your bad luck for living in a country which has broken down right?

Me? I'll be on the first boat out of here. As I have language skills, I will head to Spain or Italy and hope that I can communicate my need for help. I'll take as much cash as I can find in the house (as it stands I'd estimate £25) but I'd be rather grateful for a food voucher or two once I get there.