Here is the response to our open letter to the Prime Minister, calling for a kinder, fairer and more compassionate system for refugees in the UK. The letter was signed by Olivia Colman CBE, Stephen Fry, Shaparak Khorsandi, Joanna Lumley OBE FRGS, Thandiwe Newton OBE, Robert Rinder MBE and Dame Emma Thompson DBE along with 40 other famous people in UK.
Open letter to the Prime Minister to urge him to think again on refugees
Here is the full text of the open letter to the Prime Minister, including all the signatories below.
Dear Prime Minister
We are refugees, descendants of refugees and supporters of refugees. For some of us, if we were living in Afghanistan right now, our lives could be in danger, and we would have to become refugees.
The horrifying scenes of those fleeing Afghanistan is a painful reminder of why ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances are forced to escape their homelands in fear of their lives.
We are proud the UK is offering protection to those Afghan refugees able to get onto an official scheme. People up and down the country are doing incredible things to make them welcome as they start their new lives.
But many others have been left behind in grave danger. They will have to escape any way they can – by foot, boat or hiding in the back of a lorry. But proposed new laws would mean our country turning away people like them who are in desperate need of safety.
As a nation we must – and can – do more.
That’s why we are backing Together With Refugees’ call for a kinder, fairer and more effective system for refugees in the UK. We want Afghans and other people across the world fleeing persecution and violence to find safety here as they have in the past, no matter how they arrive.
Now is not the time to turn them away. Now is the time to offer our hand in kindness and protection. We urge you to think again.
Yours sincerely
Riz Ahmed
Ella Al-Shamahi
Dane Baptiste
Angela Barnes
Nazanin Boniadi
Douglas Booth
Frankie Boyle
Sita Brahmachari
Marcus Brigstocke
Jen Brister
Tanya Burr
Simon Callow CBE
Julie Christie
Olivia Colman CBE
Deborah Frances-White
Stephen Fry
Neil Gaiman
Maya Ghazal
Fiona (Fi) Glover
Kerry Godliman
Konnie Huq
Kaiser Chiefs
Emma Kennedy
Shaparak Khorsandi
Joanna Lumley OBE FRGS
Mae Martin
Francesca Martinez
Beth Mead
Patrick Monahan
Dame Jenni Murray DBE
Thandiwe Newton OBE
Rachel Parris
Romesh Ranganathan
Anna Richardson
Robert Rinder MBE
Suzi Ruffell
Fiona Shaw CBE
Imelda Staunton CBE
Juliet Stevenson CBE
Dame Emma Thompson DBE
Gok Wan MBE
Zoë Wanamaker CBE
Samuel West
Benjamin Zephaniah