Thread by @nandosigona

Yesterday in #PMQs @BorisJohnson claims that the UK has done more than anyone else in Europe to support refugees & that the measures to support Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion are very generous, both statements are very far from the truth. 1/
#Refugees #Ukraine

@BorisJohnson Let's start with what @BorisJohnson actually said responding to the excellent questions by @Ianblackford_MP & @LSRPlaid. 2/
#PMQs #Ukraine #Refugees #newplanforimmigration

'Since 2015 the UK is the country in Europe that has taken more #refugees' says @BorisJohnson, let's #FactCheck this. The graph below is based on Eurostat, Home Office and BAMF data.

@BorisJohnson The only way for the claim that the UK has 'taken' more refugees than any other European countries since 2015 to be true is by counting only those who have been directly resettled from refugee camps. Germany: 17800 and UK: 18445. Unfortunately, we forgot to mention that ...

#refugeeresettlement only accounts for a small portion of those who are found to have valid claim for asylum. In the period 2015-2020, Germany granted #asylum overall to 1,062,965 (including 17,800 resettled #refugees) & the UK to 77,876 (including 18445 resettled refugees).

When it comes to the UK government's 'generosity' towards #Ukrainianrefugees, the short answer is: WHAT?
1) most of the provisions discussed to date have nothing to do with granting #asylum to people fleeing the war.

2) the unwillingness to waive visa checks for Ukrainian nationals (with the support of @UKLabour) de facto means making almost impossible for people to reach the UK to claim #asylum (unless they reach the UK by crossing the English channel irregularly)

If @pritipatel is worried that Ukrainians may clog the UK #asylum system, the one she has broken since becoming Home Secretary, the best solution is NOT making it impossible for people to access asylum, BUT to grant #temporaryprotection to all Ukrainians like the EU is doing.

If @pritipatel wants to find out more about the Temporary Protection Directive, I recommend this excellent and concise overview by @StevePeers eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/02/tempor…

Unfortunately, I suspect the @BorisJohnson et co are well aware of what they are doing, a lot of virtue signalling, grand gesturing, and verbal promises (often responding to MPs and public pressure) and very little if not the opposite of what they promise in practice

it is a pillar of @pritipatel's #newplanforimmigration to de facto make claiming asylum in the UK impossible (to find out more theconversation.com/debunking-key-…) and she is not prepared to backtrack no matter what.

if you are looking for an example of cynical mismatch between rhetoric and practice when it comes to providing #refuge to those fleeing war & persecution, i can give you the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme #acrs gov.uk/guidance/afgha…

It was 'launched' with public fanfare in August 2021 theguardian.com/politics/2021/… with big words & no details. After 5 months in January 2022 it was 'launched' again (with a bit more details). And according to publicly available data not a single person has benefitted from it yet.

'In no way, shape or form it can possibly be said that the UK is at the forefront of protection Ukrainian refugees', says @ColinYeo1 in this excellent and sobering #podcast open.spotify.com/episode/1Rfvpn… #mustlisten

Watch @BorisJohnson claiming at PMQ on Thursday that Britain 'has taken more refugees' than any European countries and that we should celebrate our 'generosity' towards Ukrainian refugees.
I explain why both statements are false and/or misleading.
#UkraineWar #Ukrainianrefugees