In 2025, let's embrace hope and love that's always been the Mancunian way

JO WALBY is CEO of Mustard Tree, a charity that aims to create opportunities to help improve economic wellbeing and find settled homes for the homeless. In a New Year message written for the M.E.N. she calls for an honest discussion about immigration and its challenges and opportunities - and calls for kindness and pragmatism in our approach to social and economic deprivation in 2025.

I FELT lost in 2024 because the charity I work for focuses on fighting poverty and homelessness and we keep seeing record numbers each year. Things are not getting better.

We are not a social policy charity, we simply care about the economic wellbeing of every person who comes to us.

We are not a refugee charity, but in 2024 more people came to us who were seeking asylum or who are refugees than at any other time in our history.

And no one would talk about it. No one that is except those loud voices whose frustrations gave way to blame and anger.

In 2024 we have hired multilingual staff members. We have created additional English language classes. We have shared our data and we have asked for help.

But apart from those dedicated charities and public servants whose job it is to work with migrants, no one wants to talk about it.

There is no public discussion about migration without fear, anger and lecturing and yet we can all see the changes in our region.

So, I want to share what I have seen in 2024.

Since Covid-19, the Government assessments to decide whether people who come into the country can stay or not significantly decreased.

However, new people did not stop coming and so the numbers of people seeking asylum in the UK increased.

Whilst seeking asylum, people cannot learn English or work by law - with very few exceptions.