Shabana Mahmood is to announce a fast-track new legal route for “vulnerable” refugees from Palestine, Afghanistan and elsewhere that will grant them permanent settlement in the UK. The Telegraph has the story.
The Home Secretary will use her speech to the Labour Party conference on Monday to announce that she will reopen the UK resettlement scheme.
The scheme is targeted at the most vulnerable refugees, such as women and girls in Afghanistan, Palestinians with critical medical needs and victims of torture.
They will be entitled to immediate indefinite leave to remain – unlike other refugees whose status is reviewed every 30 months – effectively putting them on a fast track to settlement and citizenship.
The move will be seen as an attempt by Mahmood to win over critics of her approach to immigration amid a rebellion against her plans to force migrant workers and other asylum seekers to wait longer for the right to settle in the UK.
The Home Secretary will say that a tougher migration system, combined with a new scheme for the most vulnerable, will ensure that there is still broad support for helping refugees.
“Fairness is what unites us in this country. A fair society is what unlocks the very best of us. Because when people think this country is fair, they are more open and generous to others. When this country feels unfair, people turn inwards. They grow less willing to tolerate difference,” she will say.
“I know the British people have not given up on their belief that we should be compassionate, live up to our international obligations and save the lives of those fleeing war and persecution. But I also know this process must be capped and controlled, and communities must be ready and able to welcome those who come here.
“This is what we can do and who we can be as we restore control to our borders, bear down on the small boat crossings, and unlock the inherent generosity of this country.”
The Home Office expects about one in four arrivals under the UK resettlement scheme, which was frozen two years ago, to be Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) identifies the most vulnerable refugees globally and refers them to the UK Government.
The numbers will initially be very small and capped each year, which critics are likely to argue will be insufficient to act as a deterrent to small boat crossings. Potential refugees will also have to undergo rigorous security and criminality checks.
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”The numbers will initially be very small and capped each year,…”
But of course there is no mention of what those numbers are or the cap actually is…or the significance of the word ‘initially’. Numbers in the end is the thing which matters.
Mahmood’s definition of vulnerable ‘women and girls’ will of course also include those with beards and receding hairlines.
Of course this won’t act as a deterrent to small boat crossings. This scheme is largely aimed at women and children, and the small boats mostly carry men.
Surely – young, single, male Palestinians with ADHD will qualify for immediate indefinite leave to remain. And too right – the UK does not have enough young, single, male Palestinians with ADHD.
Even the ones who are Palestinian but cannot prove it because they lost their paperwork.
Additionally, I know lots of human rights lawyers in the UK who are unemployed and desperately in need of work. They may also have ADHD, so will be able to sympathise with the young, single, male Palestinians with ADHD.
I am sure the young, single, male Palestinians with ADHD will make it very clear that, being separated from their mothers, they are indeed, very, very vulnerable.