07.09.15
Councils to get emergency funds to help more Syria refugees
Money will be diverted from the UK’s international aid budget to help councils pay for the costs of settling thousands of Syrian refugees, the government says.
Chancellor George Osborne said the money diverted from the £11.8bn aid budget will fund the refugees – especially orphans – for their first year in the UK, and will also support Syria’s neighbouring countries who host the camps.
He said: “In the short term we are going to take more refugees, but not in a way that encourages them on to these dangerous boats. In the longer term we need a fundamental rethink of our aid policy.”
The money will be specifically targeted at councils to help with housing costs, he added. Critics said the government should not raid a budget that is specifically there to help people in need abroad.
Prime minister David Cameron will announce today just how many extra refugees the UK will help, with various reports suggesting it may be more than 10,000, and could even approach the 18,000 demanded by the EU. MPs will be briefed later today.
The government says it wants to concentrate its help on orphans and other refugees still in the camps near Syria so as not to incentivise further dangerous journeys across Europe for those seeking to reach the UK.
It is thought that the Syrian conflict has forced at least 11 million people to abandon their homes, with around a quarter of a million people killed.
Many councils – at least 40 – have said they would be willing to offer sanctuary. But councils in Greater Manchester are among those saying they already take more than their fair share of asylum seekers.
PSE has sought comment from the Local Government Association about the government’s latest offer of emergency funding for councils to help new refugees. The LGA’s David Simmonds told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last week that councils in England are already helping 2,000 unaccompanied refugee children, cost about £50,000 a year for each child. Another £150m is helping families still in the UK whose asylum applications were rejected, but who are destitute.
He said councils are happy to help, but they must be given the “resources” to fund it.
Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon has insisted the UK can do more to help refugees fleeing Syria for Europe, and met representatives from the refugee community during a humanitarian summit at St Andrew's House in Edinburgh at the weekend.
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email [email protected]
(Top image shows eight-month-old Maria and her father Ibrahim from near Damascus, Syria, on a train on Saturday, having recently arrived in Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)