No, It's Not Impossible At All...

Last week, the high court was the scene of a small but significant victory. North East London Migrant Action (Nelma) and the Public Interest Law Unit were granted permission to seek a judicial review of the Home Office policy of deporting rough sleepers from the European Economic Area, and are now crowdfunding to finance the bid.

Is the 'Public Interest Law Unit' a bit of a misnomer? I'd venture to suggest it is...

The deportations hinge on the fact that homeless people are presumed not to be working, so in breach of treaties that allow free movement. Homelessness has more than doubled since 2010, so it stands to reason that a fair proportion of those sleeping rough will be migrants. The treatment shows a complete lack of empathy, and a rigidity that refuses to consider the complexities of human life.

Those 'complexities' being the huge demand for unskilled migrants that is supposed to exist amongst 'the public'..?

In January Teofil and Marineta, two Romanian nationals, were arrested for sleeping in a tent in Sheffield. The couple, like many in Britain, were struggling to find regular work that paid a living wage. For a while they worked in a bread factory on zero-hours contracts, before Marineta found work as a carer. But the work dries up: zero-hours contracts treat people as disposable labour, and when the woman Marineta cared for died, it became impossible to keep up with the rent. Instead, the couple were forced to sleep rough, still doing occasional shifts and selling the Big Issue when work was scarce.

Gosh, whatever would we do without 'Big Issue' sellers. Why, just imagine!

The couple plan to return to Spain where they lived for 12 years, but want to stop others experiencing the same horrific ordeal. “The Home Office don’t care whether you’re working or not,” Teofil says. “They don’t care whether people live or die, whether they have food to eat. All they care about is their power.” It’s impossible to see what is to be gained from such a policy.

No, it really isn't. In fact, it's very, very clear what's to be gained...