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Lauren Starkey

@laurenhstarkey.bsky.social
1.7K followers 411 following 276 posts

Social Worker | Anti-Trafficking campaigner | Socialist

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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Vanna🌻🍉 @vannas.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The byline of this article is shameful. News like this aren't about the effects of optics in UK politics but about the 500.000 people that are now risking famine as a direct, immediate consequence
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Burnham reappointed Shabana Mahmood. That made it clear that he’s not the man to deal with this.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The thing I loved most about peak Twitter was just how funny it was. I used to read the annual ‘funniest Tweets of the year’ thread in full-on hysterics, tears, the works. I’m not sure I have ever once laughed at something on Bluesky 😔
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The second paragraph is very revealing. It’s unacceptable that young cricketers were “wrongly” targeted because they were “mistaken” for people seeking asylum. The implication of course being that if they actually HAD been asylum seekers, it would have been fine and frankly they’d have had it coming
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This got a big response yesterday and I appreciate everyone’s kindness. Rest assured I have much thicker skin than some dweeb like this can get under. Anyway, back to work.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Men will send me emails like this and then go rampaging on the streets of Dover and Portsmouth claiming they want to keep refugees out in order to “PROTECT OUR WOMEN!” Not a single one of the young male refugees I’ve worked with has ever spoken to me with such violent misogyny.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
The British Association of Social Workers discourages its members from working for the National Age Assessment Board because of concerns around impartiality, yet the Home Office consistently tries to argue that NAAB assessments should be given special weight. Glad to see this shot down by the UT.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I was raised in a Navy family in a Navy town (literally every man in my family and all their friends were in the Navy at some point, it’s like a pre-requisite). Everyone I have spoken to says there is absolutely no way this could work in practice without killing, to put it mildly, A LOT OF PEOPLE.
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE @leftistlawyer.com · 03/08/2026
None of us is more important than a Palestinian child being bombed by Israel, or a Sudanese woman being assaulted by the RSF, or a Congolese child being enslaved so you can use a smartphone and AI, or an immigrant being tortured in ICE detention, or a detainee in Riker's who can't afford bail.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
It somehow seems to have passed Lewis by that children need adults to care for them. Maybe children aren’t at as high risk from Covid as adults, but keeping schools open is of little benefit to poor and vulnerable kids if it kills their parents, grandparents, foster carers, teachers etc.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Someone I know got burgled. A phone was stolen with the ‘Find My Phone’ feature enabled, showing exactly where it had been taken. He also had CCTV footage clearly showing the face of the person who did it, recording him in the act. He handed it all over to the police. Case closed, no further action.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
See: Social Work.
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
MiCLU @micluteam.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
We are highly concerned about recent changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 259) which expand the circumstances in which asylum claims may be decided without a substantive asylum interview. 🧵
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Growing up in a Navy family in Fareham, I always knew Haslar as a hospital. To see it turned into what could be the largest immigration detention centre in the UK would be an absolute travesty. Please join the objections using the template below 👇🏻
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I have a similar theory but it involves getting rid of the thousand different parking apps you have to download and replacing them with one national parking app.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Question for immigration Blueskyers: I’m trying to help someone with refugee status register for HRMC online services but they need to verify their identity online. The gov.uk ID service doesn’t accept e-visas, only BRPs, but this is the same government that no longer issues BRPs. So, what do we do?
gov.uk
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
This Bill is not marginal at all in its attacks on identification and support for trafficking survivors and should be voted against at every stage on that principle alone.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
We have a long-running family joke about the time my Nana went into the local music shop to buy me the album I wanted for Christmas. She couldn’t remember the band name but said it was “something like Forgotten Pharaohs?” The guy in there worked it out almost immediately. Spotify can’t do that.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Besides obviously being wildly offensive and disrespectful, this is also just imported Yank nonsense. There is zero appetite for loosening of gun restrictions in the UK. If anything, our lack of gun violence is one of our proudest achievements!
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Free Movement @freemovement.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Long thread alert 🧵 1. What is the Tameside duty of inquiry, and why should immigration practitioners have it in their toolkit? We've published a detailed explainer on this increasingly important public law ground for challenging Home Office decisions.
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Asylos @asylos.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
New project page on #Vietnam is live! The report tackles gaps in #CountryofOriginInformation on #humantrafficking, covering exploitation, risk factors & access to support for trafficked & re-trafficked people. ➡️ Read more and share your feedback here: asylos.org/human-traffi...
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
LiLBazula 👻 🎃 @lilbazza.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
We know what they've done: they used her terrible murder by a neo-nazi to hold the peacenik left to account while mainstreaming far right talking points, enforcing Reform style racist immigration policies, & telling every racist in the land they have legitimate concerns
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Labour's anti-asylum measures are the most hostile for a generation and some of the most inhumane across Europe. Not only are they barbarically cruel, they're also unworkable and pointless. These are measures designed to cause harm and grab headlines, nothing else www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
More than half of asylum seekers rejected under tightened laws will remain in UK
Home Office assessment shows new limits on human rights route based on family ties could result in another 11,700 claims turned down
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Jacqui Broadhead @jacquibroadhead.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Windrush Lessons Learnt: "Warning signs and messages...were not heeded. Instead the policy was promoted because of a resolute conviction that it would be effective and should be vigorously pursued. Warnings by external stakeholders, individuals and organisations were not given enough consideration."
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Sonia L @sonial77.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I think that the worst thing about the "refugee tax" is that the high accommodation costs are caused by the Home Office, and in particular their inability to make fast AND accurate decisions, leaving people rotting in those grim places. Refugees are effectively being fined for HO incompetence.
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Taxing vulnerable people for the crime of fleeing from war, torture and persecution. A new low from Shabana Mahmood
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
This is utterly insane. Asylum appeals can often hinge on quite narrow points of law and require proper legal training to weigh up. What on earth is going on in Mahmood’s head that she thinks this plan is a good idea?
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Rule number one of age assessment best practice is to never ever base an assessment on physical appearance alone, so obviously the Home Office introduces a flawed AI system to estimate age based on physical appearance alone.
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Your reminder that this is supposed to be the good guy of British centrism, the one who’s our last chance of defeating the far right
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
LiLBazula 👻 🎃 @lilbazza.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
What if racism. But with a northern accent
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Well well well…
Screenshot of the local council result for Waltham Forest Borough Council, showing the Green Party has gained the Council from Labour. Previous results show Labour winning the council in 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
This is utterly horrific. Grabbing children to essentially blackmail mothers into not getting in a boat is scumbag behaviour and it is being directly funded by our taxes.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
I want to see a photo op of her sitting down with the Taliban signing a returns agreement. If you’re gonna do this, do it openly and proudly and show us who you really are. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Shabana Mahmood does not rule out sending back refused Afghan asylum seekers
Home secretary indicates Whitehall talks about returns programme, a move that would shock humanitarian groups
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Trafficking and smuggling are not the same thing, but hostile immigration measures do strengthen and increase the prevalence of both.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
It’s okay to admit when you’re dumb about something. My husband spends a lot of time in the Netherlands for work and I only recently found out The Hague is the name of a city, not just the criminal court based in it. Not that I’m not thinking about that for any particular reason today…
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Yet more tragic, and avoidable, loss of life. Rather than wasting millions on inhumane anti-asylum measures and cutting actual safe routes, while misleading people with false claims of opening more, Labour could be genuinely making it safer and simpler to seek asylum. news.sky.com/story/two-mi...
news.sky.com
Two migrants die during attempt to cross English Channel
The deaths come a day after the government signed an extension with France over arrangements on reducing the number of English Channel crossings.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
The so-called party of labour constantly spouting this classist drivel about ‘low skilled’ workers whenever the subject of migration comes up is incredibly telling. They lionise the ‘white working class’ but show their true colours whenever the workers happen to be from another country.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
There are parasocial relationships with public figures, and then there’s how I feel about Greg James. It’s so out of left field for me but I would give my life for that man. www.comicrelief.com/rednoseday/c...
comicrelief.com
Radio 1’s Longest Ride with Greg James | Comic Relief
This Red Nose Day, Radio 1 presenter Greg James takes on his most gruelling and absurd challenge yet: cycling 1000kms across the UK over 8 arduous days…on a tandem!
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Well well well. If it isn’t the exact thing people like me have been saying for years would happen, happening. Rushing out poorly made asylum decisions in a stupid attempt to clear the initial decisions backlog simply moved the backlog to the tribunal. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Asylum appeal backlog doubles in a year, Home Office statistics show
More than 80,000 people waiting to be reassessed after rejection at end of 2025 – 91% more than a year before
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
My response in the Guardian to the Home Secretary's changes to asylum rules, and the utterly false claim that Labour's hostile and Inhumane anti-asylum policies reduce "pull factors".
The home secretary talks about her reforms to the asylum system, including reprocessing applications every two and a half years, as a means to end "pull factors" for refugees. This shows a disturbing lack of awareness about the current system.

The majority of those seeking asylum who we work with come to the UK because they have existing ties to this country. It is where they feel the safest in rebuilding their lives after fleeing war and persecution.

Despite the home secretary's claims to the contrary, the Home Office has neither the ability nor the resources to implement this policy in a workable way. We already see initial applications taking more than a year. To increase the number that need to be reviewed is unfeasible and costly. Not only that, it would leave people seeking safety and security in limbo, at more risk of becoming undocumented and exploited.

This is a policy that is not supported by evidence, and instead has been designed to grab headlines with no thought to the harm it causes those individuals who hoped that they may find some safety here, and the economic and social costs to all of us.

Daniel Sohege

Director, Stand For All
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Reposted by Lauren Starkey
Nicholas Whithorn @nickwhithorn.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
In this current harsh world, let's warm a few hearts remembering the events of 7-8 March 1991, when the 90,000 people of Brindisi woke up to find 25,000 Albanians roaming the streets of their town. For perspective, that's roughly equivalent to 25k people suddenly landing in Hastings [Thread] >> 1
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
My grandfather-in-law fled Nazi Germany with his parents in 1938 and settled in the US. He refused to set foot back in Germany for over 60 years, despite all the changes made in the interim. It didn’t matter that Germany became “safe.” He wanted nothing to do with the place.
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Jesuit Refugee Service UK @jrsuk.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Survivors of trafficking are regularly subjected to immigration detention and retraumatised. Amid a legal aid crisis that's even worse in detention, they are trapped, with no way of getting desperately needed advice and support.
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Asylum policy shouldn’t be about “appealing to people who feel that we’ve lost control.” It shouldn’t be about appealing to anyone. It should be about doing what is best and safest for the people who are here seeking protection.
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
🔴‘Shabana Mahmood’s Asylum Plans Will Put Lives at Risk for No Purpose’ The Government talks about wanting to reduce division and increase integration and then implements policies which will do the complete opposite, argues @danielsohege.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/03/03/s...
bylinetimes.com
'Shabana Mahmood’s Asylum Plans Will Put Lives at Risk for No Purpose'
The Government talks about wanting to reduce division and increase integration and then implements policies which will do the complete opposite, argues Daniel Sohege
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Xun-ling Au 歐迅灵 🏴 @xunlingau.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
I actually don't have words as to how angry I am. Wonder what happened in these countries that people on student visas in the UK found themselves needing to apply for asylum instead of going home post 2021. UK Labour are heartless bastards & apparently have bo idea whats happening in the world.
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
But fundamentally Mahmood’s video is just a shocking way to speak about people. Abandoning refugees is bad! Reducing numbers is not a valid policy goal! (Until you’ve sorted out the causes of forced migration, which she seems to have no interest in.) People aren‘t a means to a party political end!
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Graeme McGregor @graememcgregor.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
🧵 Some points about migration, asylum and 'deterrence': In order for a government to deter people seeking asylum, they must cross a 'line of cruelty'. I think that what most governments - and people - fail to realise - is how extremely cruel a government must be to actually drive people away. 1/15
theguardian.com
Refugee status to be temporary as Shabana Mahmood rips up rules on UK asylum
Home secretary announces 30-month protection limit, with refugees required to leave if their home countries are later judged safe
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Asylum Matters @asylummatters.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Today is a dark day for anyone who believes in sanctuary in the UK. People who've fled war and torture should be able to rebuild their lives in peace and security - not live under a constant threat of removal. We must not stop fighting these appalling anti-refugee laws.
theguardian.com
Refugee status to be temporary as Shabana Mahmood rips up rules on UK asylum
Home secretary announces 30-month protection limit, with refugees required to leave if their home countries are later judged safe
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
This stinks at every level. What refugees desperately need after their claims are accepted is the stability to rebuild their lives. This change will cause immeasurable stress and anxiety to some of the most vulnerable people in the country
theguardian.com
Refugee status to be temporary as Shabana Mahmood rips up rules on UK asylum
Home secretary announces 30-month protection limit, with refugees required to leave if their home countries are later judged safe
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