Corbyn hits out at firm over homes
Labour leader meets community groups in Glasgowand insists asylum contract should be under public control
JEREMY CORBYN has slammed the firm threatening to lock asylum seekers out of their homes in Glasgow and said Serco was not fit to manage the contract.
The Labour leader was in Glasgow to meet with community groups to hear their concerns.
He said the system of processing asylum claims needed to be changed so people weren’t waiting years.
SERCO, the private sector firm that threatened to lock asylum seekers in Glasgow out of their homes is not fit to manage the contract, according to Jeremy Corbyn.
The UK Labour leader met community groups in Glasgow to hear a range of concerns on his four-day visit to Scotland.
Mr Corbyn heard a range of concerns on topics ranging from low paid, zero hours jobs to problems with the benefits system, asylum and immigration and housing and homelessness.
He met with around 40 people at Maryhill Community Central Halls with Labour Glasgow North candidate, Pam Duncan-Glancy.
He was told about the pending threat of locks being changed, which is on hold for hundreds of asylum seekers and the outrage it caused.
Mr Corbyn said: “I don’t think Serco should be managing this contract. It should either be done by local authorities or charity groups doing it in the public interest.”
He said the system of processing claims needs to be changed with people left years before a decision is taken on their status.
Mr Corbyn said: “Asylum seekers waiting years for a letter that never comes is cruelty.”
He heard from a young man who had set up his own landscaping business only for ill health to force him to apply for benefits.
Stefan Oliver told the Labour leader how his health deteriorated with heart problems and a stroke left him unable to work.
He said: “I was put on Employment Support Allowance but there was no -one to guide me through the process and still the bills were mounting up.”
He said there was no support tailored to self employed people to help them though.
Mr Corbyn said the benefit system needs reform.
He said: “There are millions of people who are self employed who need to be treated with respect.
“We need to alter the benefits system to recognise self-employment.”
He heard from a group of young workers who were campaigning against zero hours contracts and exploitation by employers.
Some hospitality workers said many were too afraid to speak out because they would be sacked.
Kirstene Muat said: “People feel they have no power and when they speak up they are punished, they either don’t get shifts or put on hors no-one wants.”
Mr Corbyn said zero hours contracts should be banned. He said: “I will be proud to lead a government that ends zero hours contracts once and for all.”
When asked if that would penalise people who want the flexibility of zero hours, he said for the majority it doesn’t work.
He added: “There is always someone who says it suits them, usually a student with a benign employer. It is
‘‘ Asylum seekers waiting years for a letter that never comes is cruelty
not my experience however.”
He heard from a mother who had to wait 10 years for her son to be diagnosed with autism and neurological disabilities to get the support he needed.
Dailene Logan said: “It took 10 years. I knew from very early on there was something. Then I had to fight for specialist learning. I was refused access to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) four times.”
Mr Corbyn told her: “I have heard so often of children with autism are denied the support they need then they are diagnosed. But how much have they lost in the process.”
He heard from a former asylum seeker that the growing homelessness problem was causing a backlash against asylum seekers and migrant communities with some people calling for indigenous Scots to be housed first.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Corbyn said that homelessness was growing in Glasgow and across the UK.
He said: “People deserve a roof over their heads. We would immediately purchase properties to end rough sleeping.”
Mr Corbyn spoke at the Edinburgh Book Festival after his visit to Maryhill and is in New Lanark today, where he will say that Scots Labour votes taking SNP seats are crucial to defeating the Conservatives at the next General Election.
He will say: “It will be Scottish voters who kick the Tories out of Downing Street when the time comes – and the whole of the UK will benefit from a Labour government that ends austerity and invests in our people and public services.”
Labour is targeting a number of SNP-held constituencies it narrowly lost out on in 2017 where swings of less than one per cent would be required to win.
Top target seats include Glasgow East, Airdrie and Shotts, Lanark and Hamilton East, Motherwell and Wishaw, Inverclyde and Dunfermline and West Fife.