2025 has been yet another challenging year for refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK as well as the organisations working to serve them, including many of our Together With Refugees coalition members. Divisive policies and hostile rhetoric have not only had a direct and devastating impact on countless individuals but also threatened cohesion in our communities. Yet we have seen what is possible when we come together to call for a fairer society that works for all. 

At the start of the year, we held our annual Valentine’s Day action with members from Talgarth to Manchester, Glasgow to Bristol, engaging with their local parliamentarians, writing letters and delivering giant Valentine’s cards filled with powerful messages of compassion as the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill was announced. In February, the government changed the rules to make it almost impossible for many refugees to ever become UK citizens. Working with cross-party MPs and Peers, we pushed back against this cruel policy and led an amendment in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. To ensure MPs heard our opposition loud and clear, we wrote to them en masse. 

Over the summer, as anti-refugee protests once again took place, our supporters and allies joined our Welcome Weekend as part of the Campaign Organising Network with community leaders coming together to show solidarity with refugees and participate in our national movement of welcome. Earlier this month, thousands participated in our Communities Together With Refugees campaign, whether it was displaying one of more than 12,000 posters in windows across the country, attending a local community event or engaging with their MPs and local councils. More than 200 local community groups, including refugee charities, sports teams, faith organisations, businesses and arts groups, signed a joint letter to the Home Secretary, rejecting the latest cruel plans and calling on her to ‘focus on what unites us, find common ground and offer our humanity to those who have already suffered enough’. We remain convinced that these public displays of support for refugees will show our politicians that people in their own constituencies – the people they represent and keep them in power – care enough to volunteer their time, get organised and act, so they must too. 

Throughout the year, we have been heartened by the solidarity shown by our colleagues across the refugee sector and in the wider social justice movement. They have united around our call to end the hostile politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language, joining forces to advocate instead for a compassionate approach that brings communities together. In April, to further bolster our collaboration, we launched our new Together With Refugees Steering Group of senior representatives from across our member organisations. This group of sector leaders bring a rich mix of lived and learned experience of the asylum system, and are from across policy, communications, influencing and grassroots campaigning backgrounds. Together they are driving our campaign strategy and action to win change.

‘2025 has laid bare just how damaging hostile politics and divisive rhetoric are for refugees, people seeking asylum and the communities they are part of. We have seen targeted attacks by volatile actors, demonising language and devastating policies rolled out again and again by this Government, with little thought for the people affected.

At the same time, people across the UK have been coming together to reject this division in our communities. Whether writing to MPs, challenging unjust legislation or standing shoulder to shoulder with refugees and migrants, thousands of people have made it clear that this is not in our name. We will continue to build on that hope and action in 2026 by supporting local communities to stand together and demand a better way.’ – Minnie Rahman, CEO, Praxis & Chair, Together With Refugees Steering Group 

Central to this strategy is our goal to foster a thriving, diverse and united refugee rights movement led and shaped by people with lived experience. In July we were delighted to publish a report on ‘Building Leadership from Experience’, jointly commissioned with our member One Strong Voice, a network of campaigners with lived experience. The report provides seven key actionable recommendations, including formal leadership training and pathways; trauma informed approaches and support; and the creation of inclusive and safe spaces for people with lived experience to discuss opportunities, challenges and gaps. Its launch coincided with the appointment of Bekele Woyecha as our first senior leader with lived experience of the UK asylum system who has since been liaising with partners across the refugee and migration sector and beyond to advance this vital work.

‘As we live through troubled and disturbing times, the only option we have is to organise more and work together for change with a sense of urgency. While working with people with lived experience of the asylum system, what colleagues share with me is how the asylum system could be more humane and orderly. It is vital the system considers people as people, not as merely numbers.’ – Bekele Woyecha, Deputy Director, Asylum Reform Initiative 

Last month, on the day the government announced major changes to the asylum system, we launched another report entitled ‘Welcoming Growth: The economic case for a fair and humane asylum system’ in partnership with PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union). Carried out by the London School of Economics, it revealed that every refugee accepted in the UK would contribute £266,00 to the UK economy with fair and humane changes to the asylum system. 

At the launch event in parliament, Dr Saad Maida, a refugee from Syria who works as a senior registrar in an NHS hospital, reminded us that ‘We have to believe in our power’. As we look ahead to 2026 and political narratives continue to harden with profound consequences for refugees, his words will be at the forefront of our minds as we redouble our efforts to build our collective power. We look forward to working with all of you and our allies, old and new, as we continue to ensure that Together With Refugees can be a unifying force for change, starting with our next national Valentine’s Day of Action in February 2026.

Eleanor Harrison OBE, Chair, Asylum Reform Initiative 

Jehangir Malik OBE, Interim Executive Director, Asylum Reform Initiative