The story appears on

Page A3

September 7, 2015

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeWorld

UK to use foreign aid for Syrians

BRITAIN will use part of its foreign aid budget to help meet the costs of accommodating refugees from Syria, its finance minister said yesterday, in a bid to head off concerns over the impact on local services.

George Osborne said Britain would use part of its foreign aid budget, equivalent to 0.7 percent of gross domestic product, to help local authori­ties meet the costs of helping new arrivals.

“The foreign aid we have ... can provide the support in the first year for these refugees, could help the local councils with things like housing costs,” Osborne told the BBC.

Prime Minister David Cam­eron said on Friday that Britain would welcome “thousands more” Syrian refugees, after previously refusing to commit Britain to taking in more.

Cameron did not say how many refugees would be wel­comed, but a un refugee agency spokeswoman said Britain would take in 4,000.

Britain has taken in just 216 Syrian refugees under a un-backed relocation scheme since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011. About 5,000 other Syr­ians who made their own way to Britain have been granted asylum.

Osborne said that instead of being part of a proposed quota system to allocate refugees be­tween eu nations, Britain saw the ultimate solution as deter­ring people from making the journey to europe.

He also hinted that Britain could spend more of its 12 bil­lion pound (uS$18 billion) aid budget on looking after refu­gees in countries neighboring Syria.

Britain’s government is keen to avoid fueling debate over immigration ahead of a refer­endum on whether the country stays in the eu, due by the end of 2017.

 


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend