What a waste of time, what was the point of me giving evidence for the Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill, when the Government won’t listen to the Committee’s recommendations?

I am not suggesting the Government and The Home Office are genuinely indifferent to the plight of migrant domestic workers (MDW). It’s not that they don’t care about those overseas domestic workers, who are tied to their employers, being more likely to suffer physical abuse (16% of tied  MDWs to their employer, compared to 8% of those non tied), virtual imprisonment (71% to 43% of those under the original visa), an over 16 hour workday (53% to 32% of those not tied) and more likely to have suffered trafficking (69% to 26% of those not tied). [Figures are from Kalayaan “Producing Slaves: The tied Overseas Domestic Worker Visa 4/7/14]

I am convinced that the Government are not pursuing some oppressive neo-fascist agenda and they are not in support of slavery or the limitations of immigrant rights.

It is not in pursuit of reintroducing slavery that the government has allowed slavery to be reintroduced. With an election looming next year and in the wake of the results of the recent European Parliament elections, their agenda is simply to gain more votes.

They are reaching out to the masses, feeding the xenophobes homeopathic doses of xenophobia so that the government can look as if they are finding a solution to the immigrant problem.

I believe that it is in pursuit of votes that the government has ignored the recommendations of the Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill to reverse the changes made to immigration law in April 2012 that limited a new migrant domestic worker’s stay in the United Kingdom to six months and did not allow them to change employer within this time frame.

The current domestic visa binds domestic workers to potentially abusive and exploitative employers and, since there is no prospective of any alternative employment for them, encourages abuse and exploitation due to the employers’ security in the knowledge that their help will not leave them if they abuse them.

Unlike other immigrants to the UK, domestic workers contribute to our economy, they pay tax & NI  and unlike other nationalities have no recourse to public finds so have no entitlement to benefits.

They fill jobs that British and European workers don’t want to do, especially as live in carers, so are not taking jobs from British workers – in fact the opposite is true since the changes to the visa there is now a big shortage of live in staff available, so due to supply and demand, the salaries have gone very high, making it unaffordable to many, which as we have an ageing population compounds the problem.

I really don’t understand how our Government can call a party like UKIP racist when they themselves, not only introduce changes that allow immigrants to be treated inhumanly, but totally ignore and disregard remarkable evidence that they have done so and recommendations from a Joint Committee of their esteemed colleagues who have suggested that they reverse these disastrous changes.

I also find myself questioning, what was the point of the Joint Committee on the draft modern slavery bill not only wasting their own valuable time and that of people like myself who were asked to give evidence, preparing recommendations which would help these vulnerable people, when David Cameron, Theresa May and the rest of the Government are more concerned with gaining votes than doing what is surely the right thing by these poor people, whose only agenda is to earn enough money to feed and support their families back home.

Perhaps more worrying is what this says about the state of the British people. As aforementioned, in my opinion, the government are only doing so to pander to the prejudices of voters, the same voters who have allowed UKIP to gain such credibility within the UK.

What is most concerning is the fact that the Government feel that they would lose enough support to damage their re-election prospects in 2015 if they were to strike out against this new form of slavery and help these poor domestic workers, shows that there are deep-seated prejudices at the heart of this country.

When the Conservatives were in opposition they were so supportive of the plight of domestic workers, I even had several meetings about it with my local MP. How things have changed, it is easy to appear sympathetic when you can’t actually do anything! I for one will be seriously considering who will get my vote next year!

I would like the Government to reconsider its current position and do the right thing by these MDW and reverse the changes made to the domestic worker visa in April 2012.