Alicia Edmund
Alicia joined the Evangelical Alliance as head of public policy in August 2021. Since then, she has worked on a range of issues from asylum resettlement, refugee integration, poverty relief and religious freedom in the UK and overseas.
Alicia leads the advocacy team’s parliament and Whitehall engagement and is focusing all legislative engagement this year on three core themes: identity, freedom and justice.
"Taking back control of our borders", but at what cost?
14 April 2022Journalists were briefed late last night of a possible scheme where asylum seekers who arrive in the UK would be sent 6,000 miles to Rwanda to be processed. The home secretary Priti Patel later tweeted a picture of her stepping off the plane in Kigali, Rwanda, writing, “...a significant moment for the New Plan for Immigration” Such plans have been met with strong criticism across the Twitter-sphere and morning breakfast programmes, described as “cruel”, “inhumane”, “unworkable”, “shameful” and…
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VAWG series: Here's what you need to know about the Domestic Abuse Plan
6 April 2022For the first time in UK history, the Act produced a legal definition of domestic abuse informed by the survivors’ experiences. The law criminalises physical and sexual violence alongside emotional economic manipulation and coercive and controlling behaviour within marriage, civil partnerships and/or family relationships. In addition, the Act recognised children as victims should they “see, hear or experience the effects of abuse in the home”. This recognition sets in motion increased…
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VAWG series: We need more than policy to resolve this problem
1 March 2022The answer to that question depends on who is answering it... Conservative MPs or supporters argue that under successive Conservative-led governments VAWG remains a top policy priority. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 was a landmark success, expanding powers to the police and crown prosecution service to better prosecute, investigate and support victims. There has also been considerable investment to improve support services for victims and survivors of abuse. On the other side of the debate, the…
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Government minister: faith communities vital to pandemic recovery
12 January 2022Meetings and particularly events on Zoom can add to pandemic fatigue – but not yesterday. It was great to hear so many church leaders and organisations (including some Evangelical Alliance members) on the call share examples of the different ways they supported the most vulnerable in society to access medical, emotional and practical care during the pandemic. It was also great to see that government advisers from the Department of Education, Number 10, the Departments for Levelling Up, Housing…
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Two-tier asylum system could soon become law
15 December 2021On Tuesday, 7 and Wednesday, 8 December, MPs gave final speeches and contributions to the bill. Listening to the debates, what was clear was a cross-party effort to raise different concerns and propose amendments that would significantly improve the bill and its treatment to those most in need and seeking refuge in the UK. Below are a few examples: New clause 18 proposed by Bell Riberiro-Addy MP (Labour) asked the government to reduce immigration fees from child dependents and to cease payment…
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Protecting asylum seekers and refugees: If not you, then who?
15 November 2021The most contentious principle in the bill is the differential treatment of asylum seekers based on how they entered the UK. The fall of Afghanistan and the resettlement response best exemplifies the failings in this policy. Men, women and children received indefinite leave to remain and the statutory support that goes along with it, as part of the government’s 'Afghan Relocation and Assistance policy' resettlement scheme. But if the bill goes through in its current form, we are gravely…
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