UK: Opposition urges government to do more for refugees

LONDON

Britain’s government must fund its local authorities in the U.K. to house more refugees from Syria, a leading opposition lawmaker has said.

Catherine West, who joined new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s team on Friday, said she was certain central government money could be found to help municipalities host people in their areas.

“If the government can spend millions on promoting Shakespeare in China it can certainly find the money for this,” she told Anadolu Agency, referring to a 7 million pound ($10.8 million) program announced by the U.K. on Monday to showcase British culture in China.

She said the British government also needed to increase funding for camps in countries neighboring Syria in order to plug a 37 percent shortfall in the World Food Programme budget.

Numerous British councils have responded to the migrant crisis in Europe by declaring they wanted to help find homes in their areas for refugees escaping war and persecution. They have called on the U.K. government to fund and coordinate the response, but other councils have said Britain’s chronic shortage of houses would make it difficult to accommodate numerous refugees.

West, who has become a shadow foreign minister, was speaking after attending a rally to criticize David Cameron’s government for pledging to accept just 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, also at the event, said Cameron had “bowed to pressure” from the British public to take in refugees, but that the figure was still too low.

“There are estimates around that there could be 2 million people seeking refuge in Europe in the next couple of years,” she said. “Britain is 12 percent of Europe's population. I think that would be a fair ballpark figure to say we should take 12 percent of those 2 million people.”

Another speaker at the meeting, who came to Britain after becoming a child refugee in France during the Second World War, said Cameron’s decision was “absolutely crazy and useless”.

“Does Cameron expect the war to continue for five years? Why is he not working for peace?” she asked.

West separately paid tribute to a bookshop in the predominantly Turkish district of Wood Green in North London, which has hired a large van to collect books, blankets and food for migrants in a camp in Calais, in northern France.

“I've just been really impressed by Londoners who are really committed to dealing with this crisis,” she said.