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David Cameron: migration crisis will not be solved by UK taking in more refugees David Cameron: Britain 'should not take more Middle East refugees'
(about 5 hours later)
The European migration crisis will not be solved simply by Britain taking in more refugees, David Cameron has said in response to a call from the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, to take as many as 10,000. David Cameron faced accusations of heartlessness after he insisted Britain should not take any further refugees from the war-torn Middle East, as community groups prepared to show that councils in the UK are willing to take thousands more.
The prime minister said the best solution to the migration crisis was to bring peace and stability to the Middle East and stressed the UK had taken a number of asylum seekers from Syria. The prime minister knows he and the home secretary, Theresa May, will be pressured over the migration issue when parliament returns next week, but some senior Tory backbenchers said they expected Cameron to shift his ground after distressing pictures of a drowned child, who had been found washed up on a beach in Turkey, went viral.
During a visit to Northamptonshire, Cameron said: “We have taken a number of genuine asylum seekers from Syrian refugee camps and we keep that under review, but we think the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world. Cameron insisted the best solution to the crisis was to bring peace and stability to the Middle East. During a visit to Northamptonshire, he said: “We have taken a number of genuine asylum seekers from Syrian refugee camps and we keep that under review, but we think the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world.
“I don’t think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees.”“I don’t think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees.”
Cameron said Britain was focusing on stabilising and improving the countries where migrants and refugees come from and highlighted action the government was taking to improve security at the French port of Calais.
Related: How many refugees should Britain take?Related: How many refugees should Britain take?
But in a sign that the political temperature on the issue was rising, Cameron faced calls to do more from both the Catholic church and one of the Labour leadership contenders.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, said: “This is a disgrace. That we are letting people die and seeing dead bodies on the beaches, when together, Europe is such a wealthy place. We should be able to fashion a short-term response, not just a long-term response.
“It is no longer an abstract problem of people on the scrounge. It’s not. It’s people who are desperate for the sake of their families, their elderly, their youngsters, their children. And the more we see that the more the opportunity for a political response that is a bit more generous, is growing. What is screaming out is the human tragedy of this problem, to which we can be more generous.”
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary and Labour leadership candidate, accused the prime minister of turning his back on the worst migration crisis since the second world war.
Related: Yvette Cooper: UK should take in 10,000 Middle East refugees
“When mothers are desperately trying to stop their babies from drowning when their boat has capsized, when people are being left to suffocate in the backs of lorries by evil gangs of traffickers and when children’s bodies are being washed to shore, Britain needs to act.
“It is heartbreaking what is happening on our continent. We cannot keep turning our backs on this. We can – and must – do more. If every area in the UK took just 10 families, we could offer sanctuary to 10,000 refugees. Let’s not look back with shame at our inaction.”
Cooper urged May to convene a conference of council leaders to discover how many refugees local authorities are prepared to take. The task of organising a conference is being handed to Citizens UK, the community campaign group, and there are signs that some Conservative-led councils are likely to offer help.
The Conservative leader of Kingston upon Thames council, Kevin Davis, has already written to 50 Tory-led councils asking them to become involved in a scheme run by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, to help find private housing for refugees for a year.
Cameron does not want to join any Europe-wide resettlement programme for refugees, believing that if the UK became involved in a large-scale scheme, it would act as a magnet for other migrants and it would be impossible to distinguish economic migrants from refugees.
The prime minister said Britain was focused on stabilising and improving the countries where migrants and refugees came from and highlighted action the government was taking to improve security at the French port of Calais.
He said: “We are taking action right across the board, helping countries from which these people are coming, stabilising them and trying to make sure there are worthwhile jobs and stronger economies there.He said: “We are taking action right across the board, helping countries from which these people are coming, stabilising them and trying to make sure there are worthwhile jobs and stronger economies there.
“We are obviously taking action at Calais and the Channel, there’s more that we need to do and we are working together with our European partners as well. These are big challenges but we will meet them.”“We are obviously taking action at Calais and the Channel, there’s more that we need to do and we are working together with our European partners as well. These are big challenges but we will meet them.”
His remarks leave open the possibility the government will shift position if it comes under further pressure, including from Conservative councils, but this would require more funding from central government. Related: Refugees welcome? How UK and Germany compare on migration
The community organising group Citizens UK, the Refugee Council and council leaders – including some from Conservative councils – are pressing ahead with holding a pledging conference about taking refugees fleeing the instability in the Middle East. Citizens UK, the community organising group, the Refugee Council and council leaders – including some from Conservative-run councils – are pressing ahead with holding a pledging conference about taking refugees fleeing the instability in the Middle East.
Cooper’s office said they were delighted that Citizens UK, which already runs a refugee resettlement programme, has agreed to take up the idea of a pledging conference. Cooper has set a target of 10,000 refugees being taken by the UK a figure endorsed by Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary and a rival for the party leadership. Neil Jameson, executive director of Citizens UK, said: “We are delighted Cooper has made her intervention, but this should not be a party-political issue. We think civil society can show there is a generosity in the British people, and with the help of churches, mosques and synagogues we can identify empty property in which refugees can be housed. The housing must not be public-sector housing because that would not be politically tenable.”
Cooper had called on the home secretary, Theresa May, to convene the conference, but Cameron appeared to rule out doing more, saying the focus needed to be on securing peace in the Middle East, something that most regard as a very distant prospect. Citizens UK had been lobbying the government for more than a year to take more people under an EU-funded scheme that allowed refugees to be taken from UN camps and to be housed in the UK for a year.
Cooper, responding to the latest pictures of drowned refugees, said on Wednesday: “When mothers are desperately trying to stop their babies from drowning when their boat has capsized, when people are being left to suffocate in the backs of lorries by evil gangs of traffickers and when children’s bodies are being washed to shore, Britain needs to act. Cooper has suggested a target of 10,000 refugees being taken by the UK a figure endorsed by Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary and her rival for the Labour leadership. She also won the support of the Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, who said Wales “stands ready to play its full part”.
“It is heartbreaking what is happening on our continent. We cannot keep turning our backs on this. We can – and must – do more. If every area in the UK took just 10 families, we could offer sanctuary to 10,000 refugees. Let’s not look back with shame at our inaction.”
The campaigning group Avaaz has set up a petition urging local and national authorities to resettle more Syrian refugees. It has also asked for volunteers to help with advocacy and the integration of refugees in communities. “Our humanity now could help save lives, inspire change in a pitiful refugee response, and be enormously life-enriching for us”, Avaaz said.