First of 20,000 Syrian refugees arrive in the UK: Families fleeing war already welcomed in British towns
- The UK has agreed to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years
- First wave of refugees already in UK is understood to be fewer than 100
- Those being resettled have been selected by the UN on the basis of need
- See our full coverage of the European migrant crisis
The first of 20,000 Syrian refugees to be taken in by the UK have arrived in the country.
The Government said the vulnerable group had already been resettled in towns and cities in Britain.
Their arrival marks the first step to fulfilling David Cameron’s promise to give sanctuary to desperate people forced from their homeland by the civil war between President Assad and Islamic State.
Helping hand: An exhausted Syrian woman is helped off an overcrowded dinghy after crossing the Aegean Sea to Lesbos, as it is reported that the first 100 vulnerable refugees have arrived in the UK
Ministers have not provided details of the exact number who landed in the UK or where they have been sent, but the first wave of people is understood to be fewer than 100.
The Syrian, who had fled from the war-torn country to poverty-stricken camps in neighbouring countries, will receive housing, access to medical care and education, and permission to work.
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Those being resettled have been selected by the United Nations on the basis of need.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK would give shelter to the most needy, including children, the elderly and disabled, women who had been raped and men who had been tortured.
The Home Office revealed the Syrians had arrived as the EU voted to back a plan to relocate 120,000 refugees already in Europe through a quota scheme.
Fight or flight: As their dinghy reaches the coast of Lesbos, dozens of migrants and refugees jump into the sea to reach land
Land: An exhausted Afghan woman frantically looks for her children as she arrives on the Greek island of Lesbos Tuesday
Britain has opted-out of the controversial relocation plan, arguing that taking the most vulnerable people direct from camps in Lebanon and Jordan deterred people from risking their lives making the perilous sea journey to Europe in rickety boats.
Instead, the UK will resettle 20,000 refugees by 2020 by expanding the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement (SVPR) scheme. Until this month, the scheme had taken in 216 Syrians on top of about 5,000 who had been granted asylum.
Under the programme, the refugees will be granted five years’ humanitarian protection in Britain. After that they can apply to settle permanently in the UK.
Ministers had been under huge pressure to act as Europe, and especially Italy, Greece and Hungary, struggles to deal with a huge influx of refugees, many fleeing war and poverty in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
An outpouring of goodwill saw hundreds of people volunteering to put up refugees in spare rooms, although the Government declined saying the offer, while ‘heart-warming’, was a ‘short-term solution to a long-term problem’.
Hundreds of refugees who arrived by train at Hegyeshalom on the Hungarian and Austrian border walk final few miles into Austria
Thousands of migrants have arrived in Austria over the weekend with more en-route from Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia
Top-level meetings have been taking place between town hall bosses and charities to decide how best to welcome new arrivals.
Richard Harrington, the new minister for Syrian refugees, will hold a resettlement summit within weeks to discuss how best to harness the desire of the public to welcome the refugees.
Funding from the overseas aid budget has been agreed to resettle the Syrians – but only for the first 12 months. Chancellor George Osborne is considering what extra support will be available for the other four years.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Yesterday a number of Syrians arrived in the UK. We are working closely with the with UNHCR [the UN refugee agency] and local authorities to make sure we are ready to welcome more Syrians who desperately need our assistance.’
Britain is also contributing more than £1billion to the humanitarian effort to help Syrian refugees – more than Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Poland combined.
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