The hostile environment is creating a coronavirus crisis for Britain's migrants | Maya Goodfellow

Ireland and Portugal have acted to protect asylum seekers and migrants. The UK has made a political choice not to do so

A week after Priti Patel stood in the House of Commons and issued an apology for the Windrush scandal, Abanda was trying to figure out how to survive during the Covid-19 pandemic. "I haven't seen anything addressed to us," she says. Abanda is a refused asylum seeker who advocates for migrant rights. "I don't think we exist."

Days later, as part of a number of measures announced for migrants, the Home Office extended support for some of those seeking asylum. But the standard financial assistance remains under 40 a week, less than half of the statutory sick pay. It's an amount ministers should be asked if they could survive on, particularly when vital migrant services have had to to be scaled back.