Britain will take 15,000 Syrian refugees says David Cameron

Sunday September 6, 2015

DAVID Cameron is prepared to accept 15,000 refugees from Syria amid an international outcry over the human cost of the migration crisis in Europe.

The decision came as George Osborne strongly hinted at Britain taking military action against Islamic State (ISIS) militants within a month.

After announcing his intention to allow several "thousand" refugees into Britain last week, the Prime Minister is now planning to dramatically expand the vulnerable persons relocation programme, according to senior officials.

A figure as high as 20,000 has been discussed in No.10 but Cameron's "current thinking" will see around 15,000 people resettled in Britain, according to the Times.
The plan emerged as 10,000 refugees crossed the Hungarian border into Austria in Europe's largest migration crisis since the Second World War.

Mr Cameron is also said to have ordered aides to draw up a plan that will launch a military and intelligence offensive against people smugglers and divert foreign aid to Syria.

The Prime Minister intends to persuade Labour MPs to back airstrikes in Syria in a Commons vote in early October amid fears that Labour leadership front rummer Jeremy Corbyn could block military intervention.

Until now it has been suggested Britain would accept between 4,000 and 10,000 refugees, but one senior official said 10,000 was now the "minimum not the maximum".

Britain has so far taken 216 Syrian refugees from refugee camps under the vulnerable relocation programme and has granted 5,000 Syrians asylum in the last four years.

The UK is not joining an European Union (EU) quota system pushed by German Chacellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande, which has also been rejected by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

But a source said that Britain will show that it is pulling its weight by taking in its fair share of refugees fleeing war.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, is expected to announced the quota system this week.
Home secretary Theresa May has reportedly voiced concerns about the scale of refugees Downing Street are considering to accept and warned that it would increase "pull factors" bringing people to the EU.

However, others insisted her concerns were "shared by all" and there was no cabinet rift.

MPs will debate the refugee crisis on Wednesday in an opposition day debate called by the Scottish National party, while Mr Cameron is said to be preparing to force a Commons vote on military action in Syria during the first week of October.

While many have feared that Labour leadership front runner Jeremy Corbyn could block airstrikes in the Middle East, Tory whips have told Cameron that enough Labour backbenchers may be prepared to vote for bombing - offsetting the 30 Tories who oppose intensifying the war.

A senior Conservative told the Times: "It is contingent on the Labour result and it’s impossible to take it to a vote unless we are certain the numbers are there. But a Corbyn win could help and that’s what we want to do.”

George Osborne has strongly signalled the Government is preparing to take military action in Syria after saying that dealing with Europe's unprecedented refugee crisis meant tackling Assad's "evil" regime.

Mr Osborne said: “We’ve got to defeat these criminal gangs who trade in human misery and risk people’s lives and kill people.

“You’ve got to deal with the problem at source, which is this evil Assad regime and the [Isis] terrorists.”

The chancellor will today explain a review of aid spending across Whitehall which will divert money from tackling poverty in Africa to combatting trafficking gangs and helping Syrian refugees.

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