Oxford Socialist Alliance has condemned a news sheet circulated by Blackbird Leys Conservatives, which headlines on the alleged "unfair burden" of asylum seekers in Oxford.

The large print Tory handout argues that Oxfordshire County Council is seen as a "soft touch", contrasts the numbers of asylum seekers with those in other counties, and claims that the alleged £1.5m cost to local council taxpayers could lead to "more school, road and social service cuts".

And it invites readers to reply to a survey, in which the first question is "Do you think it is fair that Oxfordshire has been given so many asylum seekers, whilst other areas have few or none?"

Socialist Alliance candidate John Lister said:

"This Tory broadsheet is a cheap attempt to win racist votes by whipping up ill-informed hostility to asylum seekers. We all know that County Council services were repeatedly slashed under the Tory government’s cash limits, long before any asylum seekers arrived here.

"The decision to exploit this issue for electoral capital is especially cynical coming as it does only a few days after ALL of the party leaders, including William Hague made a public commitment to ensure that the race issue is kept out of the coming election.

"The Socialist Alliance is critical of the way both Conservative and Labour Parties have tried to outbid each other in a Dutch auction on who can seem least friendly to refugees and asylum seekers. It is government policies which have made asylum seekers appear a "burden", by imposing long and bureaucratic obstacles to their admission, dispersing them against their will around the country, and depriving them of the right to work while their claims are processed.

"Many of those currently listed as in Oxfordshire are in fact imprisoned at the Campsfield Immigration Prison, and the others are being obliged to exist on vouchers worth only 70% of current benefit levels. Government figures show that far from being a burden, refugees bring overall benefits to this country. "

NOTE TO EDITORS: the Socialist Alliance policy on Asylum is spelled out in the latest tabloid newsletter (enclosed) 20,000 copies of which are now being distributed throughout Oxford East.