NCADC on asylum and immigration in the UK

Unheard Voices interviews Lisa Matthews of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns group (NCADC) about who is responsible for the immigration system and how she thinks government policy can be improved.

You can read about NCADC and listen to more interview clips about the organisation here

Who is responsible for the immigration system in the UK?

Lisa Matthews, coordinator of NCADC, talks about an increasingly restrictive immigration system and her concern that everyone is lumping the blame on UKBA and forgetting about the policiticians who are the ones with the power to change attitudes.

Matthews claims that politicians take a cowardly approach to immigration, using anti-immigration rhetoric as a vote winner instead of engaging in discussion and debate about the real issues.

Matthews tells us more in a skype interview from her London office…

Why is immigration good for the UK?

Matthews explains why she believes that immigration benefits the UK. She claims that the 2012 London Olympics is an example of why we should be proud of the diversity in the UK:

This was the first modern olympics where the host city had a representative from every participating nation.

Listen to this clip from our skype interview to find out more:

How can policiticians and the mainstream media act differently to change attitudes?

Matthews believes that parliamentarians and the mainstream media should take more responsibility for how they shape attitudes towards immigration. She says that politicians make headline statements about immigration targets, which would actually damage the economy if they were achieved.

Its a kinda of vicious cycle of politicians making hardline statements on immigration, the media reporting that and encouraging that and then the public listening to that and then expecting further tough measures. And there not being any flexibility in that vicious circle for what the country actually needs.

Listen to this clip from our skype interview to find out more on Matthews suggestions for policy change: