Immigration in Llanelli

Russia , china , Belarus and nk have opted out of it , and the Tories want the UK to do the same 

It was apparently, pretty quickly how inappropriate the accommodation at Stradey Park Hotel is going to be, particularly, as it no longer an hotel. Its not best for the community ,or the refugees.

neither are served well by these Home Office proposals.

I thought Robert Lloyd , the spokesperson, for the local protest group, spoke really well.

Sensible, balanced and rational.

He mentioned , as I did in my last post of Wales and Llanelli's proud record of welcoming immigrants,

So many from Italy, settled here after the war, and more recently and influx of polish, Philippine and Ukrainian.

Many of these people have made a huge impact and contribution ton the fabric of welsh life.

My next door neighbours are Polish and are a fabulous family. The three adults all work in low paid jobs, working quite long hours.

My barber Sam, (opposite the bus station)is a Syrian, from Homs. He could see what Assad was doing and fled with his family, while he could !  His brother and parents stayed , but the likelihood of him seeing them again, in person, is slim. He started working here for another hairdresser , but he bought the guy out and now the business is thriving, he's  employing others.

Robert Lloyd also mentioned that he has tried to speak to the the management of the Stradey park Hotel, hoping to find some answers, which the community is entitled to.

Absolutely zero response from them, which is shocking.

 The way the home office and this firm operate undermines the very essence of what should be happening, which is transparency, communication and wholesale cooperation, between government, local authorities and local communities, to make the most of a difficult situation, while the asylum applications are assessed.

On top of that , to have sacked local people and undermined an important business in the west wales economy is a disgrace!

I will finish with a little tale of immigration and something which happened 17 years ago.

In 2006 ,my family and were on holiday in Croatia. part of the holiday was to enjoy the cultural and historical elements of places like Dubrovnik . part of the that holiday we travelled around to other regions, like Montenegro and Bosnia.

While on the way to Mostar , a place shattered by the futility of war, we met Lucca , a Bosnian Croat.

We knew what had happened at Srebrenica(8,000 men and boys slaughtered), but Lucca took us to a place where people from his village ,men women, and even children, were rounded up and shot.

The surviving women in hiding were raped , and then shot.

The incident had a profound effect on me ,and made me consider the wider implications who we are are in the wider scheme of things, and our humanity and commitment to other human beings and all living things.

The sting in the tale (tail), is interesting. Years later , I was recovering from prostate cancer surgery, and the consultant came to talk to me. We had had chatted , prior to surgery, but basic stuff, about what was going to happen. Afterwards he told me his family were from Blatnica, , 15 miles from Mostar and had fled the war, when he was quite young, eventually coming to the UK. Many others in his family perished

This man probably saved my life, so I need to thankful to an immigration, and some of the wonderful people it has brought to this country 

It appears that the spending spree started during covid continues with very little control being exercised by those in responsibility. Surely the buck stops with the Home Secretary & the Chancellor. 

Good point RR, I totally agree.These places are worse now, than before the conflicts,unstable, lawless. Living under tyrants must have been awful, but as long as you kept your mouth shut it was " safe" , in the general sense. I have met people from Libya, who have told me this, I think its the same in Iraq.

This of course has no direct link to the Stradey Park Hotel, and I do no want to move the thread away from the core focus.

We need to understand  however,  what people are facing , and why so many are risking their lives  and the lives of their children,  in perilous  waters, sometimes in the most treacherous  conditions,  in boats totally  unsuitable .

You are not going to stop the boats coming , whatever madcap Braverman,  and weakling Sunak plan.

We need to be better prepared,  and working with greater commitment, with the French to  crack down on the illegal traffickers ,

difficult  though it may be.

By sifting through with greater speed, who is a genuine asylum seeker, and whom is an economic migrants is essential. 

It could be that economic migrants  are given short term employment visa's to help tye labour market, picking fruit, us currently  a massive headache,  in the South east, but therecother things too.

Asylum seekers are in  a different  category,  and their short and long term future is assessed  using other criteria, such their their safety, and where they have come from.

This is a hugely  complex issue, where language  and emotion  can get out of hand.

What we cannot have in Llanelli  is far right groups,  many from outside  the area hijacking the situation  for their own racist agena, filled with vitriol and hate.

Local people in Furnace however, righly have concerns,  and these should  be addressed by the home office, and they are not ATM.

The situation  has been handled  badly.