Yesterday The Telegraph broke the news that school children are “being fed pro-migrant messaging through schoolbooks” via the Schools of Sanctuary network, a scheme run by the open-border charity City of Sanctuary UK.

City of Sanctuary was quick to whinge on Instagram about how The Telegraph was “attacking schools”, and used the piece as an opportunity to ask for more donations.

It’s typical of this charity, which always acts the victim when it receives scrutiny from the press.

As readers will know, I regularly write about City of Sanctuary - so I know this from experience.

Recently, for instance, it moaned about a “misinformation campaign” apparently instigated by journalists such as myself, which was no such thing.

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Earlier this month, Helen Earner, Director of Regulatory Services at the Charity Commission, accused journalists like me of spreading “online misinformation” by accurately reporting on the activities of the charity City of Sanctuary UK.

To recap, in late 2025 I covered the fact that the charity had been encouraging children to make Valentine’s cards for asylum seekers.

After it received multiple complaints from MPs and others worried about the scheme, the Charity Commission launched a compliance case into City of Sanctuary’s activities – ultimately concluding that there was nothing to see here.

As a statement by the regulator put it, these Valentine’s Day cards were merely “heart-shaped general messages of welcome to refugees” (as if that’s any better) to be displayed in schools and at a “separate charity supporting refugees for display in its premises”.

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Yesterday, Stella Creasy, the Silent Disco Queen and Labour & Co-op MP for Walthamstow, was thrilled to welcome Sir Sadiq Khan to her borough:

And not just any borough; Walthamstow is “a borough of sanctuary”, don’t you know…

Unfortunately this means it is working with the ghastly open-border charity City of Sanctuary UK.

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“Regulator finds no evidence that refugee charity engaged in inappropriate activity”, read a press release by the Charity Commission for England and Wales yesterday, after it closed its compliance case into City of Sanctuary UK.

The Commission looked into “concerns… over the charity’s activities in schools, including the claim that school children were being encouraged to send Valentine’s Day cards to adult asylum seekers. This allegation had been circulating online and was also reported in the media.”

“Following a detailed review and a meeting with the charity’s trustees”, the Charity Commission said it “did not find evidence to support these allegations”, adding that City of Sanctuary UK had faced “a misinformation campaign, including threats to charity trustees and staff, in relation to the Valentine’s Day card allegations.”

I don’t know anything about these “threats”. But I dispute the idea that the charity “faced a misinformation campaign” - certainly not from me. I was first to write up the story, and my coverage was packed with screenshots and literature to evidence City of Sanctuary UK’s activities:

In my article above, for instance, I showed a screenshot of a Schools Activity Pack put together by City of Sanctuary UK (its Schools of Sanctuary Team and Together with Refugees). Here it is:

The screenshot makes clear that the charity:

• encouraged schools to “Show your heart for refugees on Valentine’s Day”

• described these as “cards” (“You can then display these cards at your school”; and

• laid out a method that meant cards could be sent to “people seeking sanctuary” (by which the charity means asylum seekers/ refugees): “You can then display these cards at your school or send them to your local refugee organisation to share with people seeking sanctuary.”

However, the Charity Commission gives a rather abridged interpretation of events, claiming the cards were merely “heart-shaped general messages” that may go up for display in a charity’s premises:

“Heart-shaped general messages of welcome to refugees were displayed in schools, with some sent to a separate charity supporting refugees for display in its premises. The trustees explained that at no point did children write cards to individual adult asylum seekers or refugees.”

Despite the Charity Commission’s abridged account, Helen Earner, Director of Regulatory Services at the Charity Commission, said:

“concerns about the charity’s work were fuelled by online misinformation, something charities are increasingly subject to and a concern for us as regulator. While we can’t fact check every concern about every charity, sometimes the high profile of allegations means it is right for us to set the record straight where allegations cannot be substantiated.”

But where is this online misinformation?

It is certainly not in my coverage.

What’s worse is that the Charity Commission concludes there’s no issue with children making “Heart-shaped general messages of welcome to refugees”, which “did not amount to a breach of charities’ obligation to remain independent of party-political bias.” Will parents around the UK agree? That’s if they even know about the extent of City of Sanctuary UK’s Valentine efforts, including children making Valentine’s cards for their MP.

The Commission’s futile review helps to explain why the charity sector is in such a mess.

Last week, the charity City of Sanctuary announced recipients of its “Sanctuary Awards programme”, which “recognises and celebrates the organisations and institutions who go above and beyond to foster welcome, understanding and opportunity”. One of these was the University of Cambridge, now an accredited “University of Sanctuary” – something that the institution has been keen to show off on its website.

On the surface, the accreditation makes Cambridge (and any others receiving a “Sanctuary Award”) look kind and compassionate. The university’s webpage about its award has a photograph of a handful of refugees, making the City of Sanctuary programme look as if it helps a manageable number of people, not (in reality) being designed to turn the UK into an open-border state.

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More:

Yesterday City of Sanctuary UK, the charity that once encouraged school children to make Valentine’s cards for asylum seekers, released a very helpful guide “to informed, compassion conversations about asylum”.

The charity is so compassionate that it doesn’t even use the term “asylum seekers”, incidentally, preferring to use the term “people seeking sanctuary”.

In an email about its new “Facts About Sanctuary resource”, it writes:

Hi Charlotte

The Facts about Sanctuary provides clear, accessible information about people seeking sanctuary in the UK. But facts alone don’t change hearts and minds. This guide encourages you to bring your own thoughts, experiences, and humanity into the conversation – because connection is what truly transforms understanding.

Click here to download your guide to informed, compassionate conversations about asylum. [NB I have not attached this as I had to sign up to receive the link]

There is also a version formatted for printing on two sides of A4 available here.

Use it as a standalone resource to feel informed and prepared, or pair it with our Courageous Conversations guide for the complete toolkit: the facts to ground you, and the skills to engage meaningfully.

The vast majority of us want a fair and kind system for people seeking sanctuary, but our voices are not being heard. Can you share the guide and get even more people speaking up?

Kind regards,
Hannah

P.S. Here at City of Sanctuary UK we work with thousands of community groups, schools, universities, libraries, councils and more to ensure that people seeking sanctuary are met with welcome, support and empowering opportunities. Can you chip in and help us grow this movement of welcome?

Naturally I have since read the guide, and I am ready to have “informed” conversations, armed with facts such as:

• “Nearly all people who cross the Channel claim asylum, showing these journeys are about survival, not opportunity.”

• “Everyone arriving is screened for safety”

Clearly the screening process is going incredibly well:

Elsewhere the charity says “There’s no evidence that people seeking sanctuary commit more crime than British citizens”

Oh really?

And “Have you noticed how often we’re told to look down, not up, when things feel unfair?”

Frankly, many of us are just looking around to try and stay safe.

The guide ends with the question: “What kind of community do you want to live in- fearful or fair?”

Fair is, of course, my answer.

Sadly we are all very fearful when events like this are happening so regularly:

Funders of City of Sanctuary UK listed below:

AB Charitable Trust (also funds Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust)
The Tudor Trust
Paul Hamlyn Foundation (also funds Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust)
City Bridge Trust
Gale Charitable Trust
Postcode Community Trust
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Lloyds Bank Foundation (England & Wales)
Unbound Philanthropy (also funds Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust)

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Remember the ghastly “Schools of Sanctuary” scheme run by the open-border charity City of Sanctuary UK? Some context below:

Conservative MP Nick Timothy recently asked Labour’s Secretary of State for Education “on which dates officials from her Department met with Schools of Sanctuary since July 2024; and what was discussed at each meeting.”

Yesterday Labour replied: “Three meetings have taken place between officials and Schools of Sanctuary during the 2024/25 academic year. One meeting was to discuss school admissions policy and processes, and two were to hear about the work of the organisation.”

So there you have it.

Labour have met three times with this ghastly open-border organisation, which shares at least two of the same funders as HOPE not hate Charitable Trust:

Although it sparked outrage when I revealed in August that City of Sanctuary UK had been encouraging children to write Valentine’s cards to asylum seekers - via its “Schools of Sanctuary scheme” - it hasn’t deterred the charity from its mission:

Let’s hope we can find out even more information about Labour’s discussions with it.

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In today’s article I wanted to show readers how taxpayers’ money is being spent on “Sanctuary Cities”.

To recap, the UK has inherited this concept from the US Democrats.

President Trump is currently in the process of tearing out “Sanctuary Cities”. Meanwhile, the number of “Schools/ Boroughs/ Universities and Groups of Sanctuary” has been quietly growing over here - with most voters having absolutely no idea.

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While researching “Schools of Sanctuary”, one of the most troubling findings has been the number of children making Valentine’s cards for “refugee recipients”, as one school put it.

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Readers of my X page will know that I am no stranger to being blocked.

I have been blocked by everyone/thing from The Green Party to Chris Bryant (the Labour MP) to Islington Council.

It mostly starts when I nose around people’s activities.

Case in point: recently I was blocked by City of Sanctuary UK after I started highlighting its work.

The charity lobbies for schools, councils and universities, among other places, to accommodate refugees (or rather “sanctuary seekers”, as is the new trendy term). Its website reads:

“City of Sanctuary UK coordinates, supports and grows these networks of welcome. From community groups to schools and universities, local councils to libraries and theatres, we work with individuals, groups and organisations in every area and in every sector to encourage inclusivity, solidarity and compassion for people from a forced displacement background.”

City of Sanctuary has not liked me drawing attention to its scheme, nor have participants in the scheme liked having their work highlighted.

For instance, Islington Council blocked me when I showed it giving out £500,000 in grants, as well as housing to asylum seekers, in its capacity as a “Borough of Sanctuary” (as councils enrolled in City of Sanctuary’s scheme mostly call themselves):

Then I started trawling through “Schools of Sanctuary”, and found even more “sanctuary” accounts, such as “Birmingham Schools of Sanctuary”.

When I highlighted the tweet below - showing kids giving a Valentine’s card to “refugee recipients” (more likely to be male economic migrants living in hotels), Birmingham Schools of Sanctuary deleted it and have since put their account onto protected mode:

“Sanctuary schemes” - which are imported from the US (where I understand them to have been a disaster) - have been rolled out all over the UK, sometimes at extreme expense. DOGE Wales has pointed out that £55 million has been spent on making Wales a “Nation of Sanctuary”.

With taxpayers’ money being spent on “City of Sanctuary” schemes, you’d expect councils/ otherwise to be able to justify their actions and to be proud of their work.

But they too often hide and delete content at the slightest bit of criticism.

What have they got to hide?

Read more about Sanctuary Cities here…

Support my research by taking out a subscription or making a donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Thank you to everyone who has funded my work.

In June, you may remember I wrote about “Sanctuary Cities”:

In short, unbeknown to most voters, councils around the UK have been welcoming “sanctuary seekers” (the new fashionable term for “refugees”), sometimes at a great cost to taxpayers. For instance, Islington Council has made £500,000 in grants available as part of its “Borough of Sanctuary Grants Programme”.

Today I wanted to introduce readers to the organisation spearheading “Sanctuary Cities”, appropriately titled “City of Sanctuary UK” (which I will refer to as CoS for short).

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Did you know that it was “Refugee Week” from the 16th to 22nd of June?

Councils across the UK celebrated the event, including Cambridge City, Dorset, Warwickshire County, Southampton and Richmond.

Universities, schools and theatres were also crowned places of “Sanctuary”.

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