by Dave Cartwright, Glasgow
Last weekend the multi-national corporation SERCO announced that it would be evicting 300 asylum seekers from properties that it leases in Glasgow. It served the first six eviction notices demanding that the tenants vacate their property within 7 days or they would find their locks changed.
Despite the lack of warning, a wide range of charities, tenants’ organisations, community groups and political representatives began to organise in their defence. Already, after just one week, SERCO have “paused” their plans in the face of legal challenges and the prospect of direct action.
At short notice, a demonstration was called on Tuesday and another one took place on Wednesday. Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants union, have been fast to organise in the defence of the tenants. Politicians declared their support including Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who said, “we would be prepared to occupy and prevent these evictions”.
Also, two Afghan refugees went on hunger-strike, demanding that their cases be looked at again, because they would not be safe in Afghanistan. One of them, Irwais Ahmadzai, was born in a refugee camp in Pakistan 32 years ago and has been seeking refuge ever since. Another, Rahman Shah, fled from Afghanistan 12 years ago. Many of the Home Office decisions to turn down the right to remain are overturned on appeal. Where legal representation is available the appeal success rate can be close to 50%. It is a scandal that the rate is as low as 20% in areas where there is a “legal-aid desert” in the words of former Judge, Catriona Jarvis.
Despite saying that the 300 tenants no longer have a right to stay in the UK, many of them will have other claims or are still in appeal. SERCO have since admitted that 100 of them have been granted leave to remain.
On Saturday, there was a ceremonial burning of the eviction notices outside the Home Office building in Glasgow. As well as the support already in place, messages of support were given by trade union leaders from the city. Local SNP MP Chris Stevens said he would defend any of his constituents threatened with eviction and Labour MSP Paul Sweeney confirmed his stance and the support of Scottish Labour Party leader, Richard Leonard. We also heard that some of the Housing Associations were starting to stand up to SERCO, like Parkhead, who said that SERCO cannot change fixtures and fittings which means they can’t change the locks.
SERCO gets its contract from the Home Office and then leases properties from 15 or so Housing Associations in the city. When MPs and MSPs wrote to the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, about their affected constituents his reply was effectively that it was none of their business.
SERCO behaviour is typical
The behaviour of SERCO is shocking but is typical of the way they have treated tenants since they took direct control in 2016 of this £60 million contract from Orchard & Simpson, to whom they had previously sub-contracted the work. Positive Action in Housing has produced reports of the intimidation that has taken place of tenants. One 35-year-old woman came out of the bath to find a man standing in her property. They had not given any notice that they would be using their copy of the key to enter at that time.
There are other cases of SERCO housing officers searching through tenant’s clothes and papers. One was even questioned for having chicken in the freezer. The chicken was a donation from the local mosque because they knew that the £37 per week card does not buy you much food. SERCO denies that any of this is “intimidation” but it clearly is designed to make people feel on edge and insecure. No wonder that the vast majority of Asylum seekers will suffer mental health problems at some point.
SERCO is a huge multi-national company run by Rupert Soames, grandson of Sir William Churchill and brother of Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames. They receive large numbers of contracts from public sector organisations in the UK and overseas. The sectors they operate in (Defence, Prisons, Aviation) shows a deep connection with the state. The 2017 Paradise Papers showed that the offshore law firm, Appleby noted that SERCO had “a history of problems, failures, fatal errors and overcharging ”.
The contracts with the Home Office are up for renewal next year. The Home Office does not allow public sector organisations to bid. So much for the Tories belief in the free market. The care of vulnerable people cannot be left in the hands of rapacious financial giants like SERCO. Only public sector organisations have the values required for such a service.
There is still much to fight for here. The campaign will continue on all fronts: legal, political and direct action. And it is an opportunity to shine a light on the inhumane treatment being dealt out to very vulnerable people by the Tory government and their “hostile environment”.
August 6, 2018
