On Monday 7th September I attended the Prime Minister’s announcement to the House of Commons regarding Britain’s response to the refugee crisis in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. David Cameron announced that Britain will take 20,000 refugees over the life of this parliament (until 2020), also the Overseas Aid Budget will help fund, house and help refugees seeking asylum. Furthermore the refugees being allowed to come to the UK are to come directly from the refugee camps on the Syrian Border in order to prevent them from making the dangerous journey on foot or by sea.
I asked the Prime Minister if he would prioritise religious refugees who are being persecuted and threatened by Islamic State. I am pleased the Prime Minister agreed with me that there needs to be specific consideration for refugee status in the UK for those fleeing religious persecution, particularly the Yazidis and Christians, of which there are tens of thousands in Syria and hundreds of thousands in Iraq.
I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement and whole heartedly support the aims which he set out today in order to try and help those worst affected by the conflicts in the Middle East and those most in need of our help. The United Kingdom has a long history of helping those affected by atrocities and the PM’s statement is a correct continuation of this history.
I have been contacted by many Constituents urging me to bring this matter up with the Prime Minister and I am glad that I was called so early following the PM’s Statement. We need to balance the right response for this humanitarian with making sure we do not respond in a way that makes matters worse.