Erin Seils | S3
David Cameron says that the UK will have taken another 20,000 Syrian refugees into the country by 2020.
The prime minister of the UK, previously said that accepting more refugees into the UK would not aid in improving the situation and that “a number” of Syrian refugees have already been allowed into the country.
So far, the UK has accepted less than 1,000 refugees, while other countries have welcomed significantly larger numbers.
Germany has registered 3,500 in a day and is anticipating 800,000 over the course of this year. Around 2,100 registered in Spain and France have agreed to take in another 24,000 over the next two years. Even with 2,600 of the immigrants trying to make it to Greece and Italy drowning in the Mediterranean , around 230,000 made it to Greece and almost 115,000 arrived in Italy.
However, the PM has now said that within the next 5 years there will be another 20,000 Syrian refugees in the country. Although this is more than originally planned it is still nowhere near the amounts of people that have been accepted into other countries.
People taken to Britain under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme have been granted Humanitarian Protection, a status normally used for people who “don’t qualify for asylum” but would be at “real risk of suffering serious harm” in their home country.
David Cameron says that these people may stay for five years. During this time they have the right to work and access public funds, but after this time they can apply to settle in the UK.
Labour claim that 20,000 is still an inadequate amount and raised the possibility of accepting more than 4,000 this year.
However, Mr Cameron seemed adamant to stay with the 20,000 figure, defending his response, saying that the UK was already donating £1billion in humanitarian aid to Syria.
Sourced from BBC News and The Guardian
