The William Gomes Podcast Signs Joint Statement on Earned Settlement
The William Gomes Podcast has signed a joint statement opposing the government’s earned settlement proposals and the accompanying consultation in their entirety. The statement was coordinated by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and is supported by forty five organisations working across migrant rights, social justice, health, legal advocacy and community support.
The statement rejects the proposals as fundamentally racist and classist, warning that they would undermine rights and conditions for everyone, whether born in the UK or not. By tying permanent settlement to income, job type and narrow definitions of economic contribution, the proposals would deepen insecurity, expand exploitation and entrench inequality across society.
Why Earned Settlement Is Harmful
The statement argues that earned settlement frameworks are designed to create a more hostile environment, producing a hyper exploited and hyper precarious underclass of largely racialised workers. Rather than improving fairness, the proposals would lower standards and conditions for all workers while benefiting exploitative employers. The language and framing of the consultation itself are described as reflecting these aims.
Central to the collective position is a clear principle: settlement is a right. The ability to live safely and permanently, to build relationships, families and communities, should not be conditional on economic performance. The existing immigration system already forces many people to endure decades of precarity and prolonged bureaucratic barriers before gaining permanent status. The earned settlement model would worsen these harms rather than resolve them.
Refugees, Colonial Harm and Protection
The statement strongly condemns the proposals’ treatment of refugees and people seeking protection. It argues that the government is seeking to further punish people whose displacement is often the result of historic and ongoing colonisation. By criminalising the limited routes available to seek asylum, while refusing to create safe alternatives, the proposals are said to manufacture a false moral panic around illegality and scapegoat those fleeing violence, extraction and long standing global injustice.
Attacks on Workers and Divisive Hierarchies
Particular concern is raised about attempts to create a hierarchy of workers based on occupation, with health and care work explicitly devalued. The statement describes this as a divide and rule strategy that constructs false categories of deserving and undeserving migrants. These distinctions are rejected entirely.
Many migrants from Britain’s former colonies were compelled to fight for the empire during the Second World War, while their own countries were economically devastated by colonial rule. They were later encouraged to migrate to Britain to rebuild the country and continue to form the backbone of essential labour. This includes work in the NHS, social care, transport, cleaning, logistics and the gig economy. Despite being labelled key workers during the Coronavirus pandemic, many now face heightened insecurity and exclusion.
The statement situates this exploitation within a wider colonial system that racialises labour, suppresses collective resistance and keeps conditions low for the entire multiracial working class.
Recourse to Public Funds and Social Support
The statement also rejects restrictions on recourse to public funds. It argues that everyone, regardless of income, job type or nationality, should have access to healthcare, housing and social support. Need is not limited by place of birth, and a just society provides care from the cradle to the grave.
A Collective Call to Resist
By signing this statement, The William Gomes Podcast aligns itself with a collective call to resist Britain’s colonial border regime and the structures that sustain exploitation and division. Settlement is not a privilege to be earned, nor a tool of control. It is a right grounded in dignity, safety and belonging.
The full list of signatories includes: Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants; Action Against Detention & Deportations; Action for Refugees in Lewisham; After Exploitation; All African Women’s Group; Bahay Kubo Housing Association; Baobab Women’s Project CIC; BARAC UK; Beyond Detention; Books Against Borders; End Deportations Belfast; Existing Skilled Migrants Forum; Global Justice Cambridge; Global Women Against Deportations; Govan Community Project; Haringey Migrant Support Centre (HMSC); Haringey Welcome; India Labour Solidarity; Indian Workers’ Association GB; Kanlungan Filipino Consortium; Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS); Legal Action for Women; Lesbians And Gays Support the Migrants; Long Residence Advocacy Group; Medact; Migrant Justice Manchester; Migrante UK; Patients not Passports Cambridge; POMOC; Radio Calais; RAMFEL (Refugee & Migrant Forum of Essex and London); Refugee Action; Revoke; Routes; Solidarity Detainee Support; South London Refugee Association; South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG); Southampton Action; Southeast and East Asian Women’s Association; Southwark & Lambeth Antiraids; Southwark Law Centre; The Launchpad Collective; The William Gomes Podcast; Thread Ahead; Tulia Group CIC; Women Against Rape; Women for Refugee Women; Women of Colour in the Global Women’s Strike.
