I richiedenti asilo del Regno Unito non abusano ampiamente delle moderne norme sulla schiavitù, rileva il rapporto | Immigrazione e asilo

They’re probably a lot more likely to be the victims of slavery, given the kind of people they have to deal with to get here

I went on the Bright Blue website, and I can’t seem to find the original source or data for their study. This means, it is much more difficult to scrutinise their methods and identify any strengths OR weaknesses for their project.

Unfortunately, this means relying on the Guardian’s reporting and there can be legitimate concerns regarding their impartiality.

Some points:

1. The article concentrates on modern slavery claims but fails to consider other types of claims that may be misused to circumvent our immigration systems. For example, there are many types of invented persecution narratives that could be used, including false claims of homosexuality and political or religious persecution. From this data alone, we cannot conclude that a low number of false modern‑slavery claims is offset by higher levels of other types of false claims.

2. The article also reports that no boat person can demand to be assessed but needs to be referred for assessment by a statutory public body. This is assumed to indicate that any referral is legitimate. What it fails to acknowledge is the practical reality, a referral is almost guaranteed under normal safeguarding procedures, including for false claims. In other words, no low paid worker wants to accept responsibility for these people, so referrals are practically guaranteed.

3. The report states that 90% of referrals meet the reasonable-grounds threshold for assuming modern slavery is a legitimate risk.  But there is a logical flaw here because the reasonable‑grounds test requires only a minimal level of suspicion. A high acceptance rate can not reliably be taken as evidence that false claims are rare. Essentially, public bodies are structured to err on the side of caution, meaning they are likely to accept claims at face value in order to avoid the risk of overlooking a genuine victim or exposing themselves to reputational or legal risks.

This is a new low by the guardian. Shame on them. All we want for Christmas is a sensible immigration policy that is evidence-based. This can not be taken as strong evidence to dictate policy, as it leaves more questions than answers.

Sensitive Echo