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The war in Ukraine highlights Britain's ‘utterly atrocious’ asylum system, Glastonbury's Left Field stage hears

THE war in Ukraine has highlighted how “utterly atrocious” Britain’s asylum system is, a solidarity debate at Glastonbury festival’s Left Field stage heard today.

Minnie Rahman, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) public affairs and campaigns manager, highlighted how almost half of the 135,000 Ukrainian refugees granted visas have still not entered Britain.

“This is because the UK has created a very complicated, bureaucratic system where they are still waiting to come into the country,” she said.

“Ukrainian refugees have been treated better than any other category of asylum-seeker in the last 15 years and they have been treated appalling by this government.

“The public is now understanding how utterly atrocious the asylum system is. The system is incredibly complex, incredibly racist and difficult to access in the first place.

“You have to be at the right place at the right time with the right documentation to enter.

“Five months into this conflict and the government has only just allowed unaccompanied minors entry into the UK.

“If our asylum system isn’t working for Ukrainian nationals in an international conflict, who is it working for?”

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