Shropshire Council urged to help refugees

Liberal Democrat councillors have tabled the motion to be put to the vote at Shirehall on September 24.

With the plight of refugees fleeing persecution from war-torn countries continuing to escalate, Lib Dem councillors Andy Boddington, for Ludlow North, and Andrew Bannerman, for Coton Hill and Quarry in Shrewsbury, have said councils such as Shropshire should not stand idly by.

Councillor Bannerman said: "We need to act quickly and flexibly. We are not suggesting that Shropshire takes in thousands of refugees. If we found homes for just ten families, that's ten families rescued from a state of crisis.

"Shropshire Council is a civic leader and has a lot of expertise. It should help shape our county's response to this emergency."

Councillor Boddington added: "It is a natural instinct to think that it is someone else's responsibility to deal with a crisis.

"But the reality is that it is everyone's duty to deal with extraordinary suffering like this.

"As just one council, one volunteer group or one individual we perhaps can't achieve a huge amount. But as hundreds of councils, thousands of volunteer groups and millions of people we can make a really big difference."

The motion will ask Shropshire Council to set up a group of councillors to work with the housing options team and external organisations to help refugees find a home and settle in Shropshire, and accept reports from the group on actions that it or the council as a whole should take.

The motion also asks that the council should write to the county's MPs, and the prime minister, "to remind them of the UK's moral responsibility to resettle many more refugees than currently proposed."

Councillor Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, said on Twitter that the council was already working on the issue.

He recognised the good intentions of the two councillors', but said they would have been better served speaking to him rather than "taking the political route".

Earlier this week Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski defended the UK government 's response to the refugee crisis, saying that the UK had done more than many EU countries to provide a safe haven for refugees.

Yesterday Ludlow MP Philip Dunne welcomed David Cameron's announcement that the UK would do more to help refugees from Syria.

He said the UK had given more than £900 million in aid and granted asylum to around 5,000 refugees from Syria since the beginning of the crisis.

"But we can and will do more," he said, "It's important that we continue to take refugees from camps, to provide a direct and safe route to the UK. This will ensure fewer families risk the more hazardous journeys across Europe, which is tragically claiming too many lives."

Writing on his blog, Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies said he had been wary of commenting on the situation since he was criticised for suggesting the UK take in 15,000 Syrian refugees a year ago, but said his view had not changed.

He said: "While I'm not convinced it will improve the position overall, I do think it's worth allowing say 15,000 to move here – though I make no suggestion how they should be chosen. It may help. It's almost impossible to decide what to do for the best," he said.