This crisis has shown we are weathering the same storm, but we are not all in the same boat. Over the years, Governments led by both major parties have introduced immigration rules that lock people out of vital state services like the NHS and the social security safety net.
The ‘no recourse to public funds’ visa condition which applies to 1.4 million people in the UK, bars them from accessing basic public support like Universal Credit and free school meals – with the restrictions falling disproportionately on black, Asian and minority ethnic people.
The NHS was instructed by the Home Office to introduce charging, and to share its patient data with immigration officials. The ability of a doctor to save lives should never be put at risk or made to depend on whether the person in front of them can show their paperwork.
And the Hostile Environment in housing, the ‘Right to Rent’ scheme, has been found by two English courts to cause racial discrimination …