Asylum seekers 'should have the right to work', under a proposal by a Glasgow SNP MP.

Carol Monaghan, Glasgow North West MP, led a ten-minute rule Bill in the House of Commons asking the UK Government to grant the right to work to asylum seekers.

Her Bill backs the Lift the Ban campaign coalition of charities and businesses and faith groups who want people to be able to work to support themselves while waiting for a decision on their asylum application.

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The current situation is people can only apply to work if they have been waiting for more than 12 months for a decision. And then, only for jobs that are on the UK Government’s Shortage Occupation List.

Monaghan wants this reduced to six months.

She said: “In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, with UK inflation reaching a 40-year high, it is imperative that those seeking asylum on these shores can support the economy and provide for themselves and their families.

"At present, individuals waiting on their asylum claim are given just £5.84 per day to meet all their essential living costs. This is deplorable."

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The MP said allowing asylum seekers to work would benefit the economy too and help fill vacancies.

She added: “Meanwhile, the Home Office is frittering away a staggering £120m of taxpayers’ money on the Rwanda deal – with an estimated £500,000 spent on a plane to Rwanda that never even took off.

“Instead of wasting gargantuan sums of public money on expensive, ineffective policies, it should seek to implement policies that make economic sense – and the right to work is an exemplary policy in that respect.

“Lift the Ban’s most recent calculations show that by the end of 2022, the Treasury will have wasted nearly £1bn as a result of preventing people from working.”