Salmond: I’ll open up my home to help out refugees
ALEX Salmond has become the latest politician to offer to open his doors to refugees as he sought to embarrass the UK Government.
The former First Minister, who lives in a converted mill i n Strichen, Aberdeenshire, claimed the SNP was part of an unlikely ‘pincer movement’ with the Church of England.
A letter signed by 84 bishops was sent to Prime Minister David Cameron last month, urging him to make a ‘meaningful and substantial response to the scale of human suffering we see daily’.
Both urged the UK Government to offer to take more refugees, although Mr Salmond declined to back the Church’s call for 50,000 people to enter the UK.
He follows in the footsteps of Nicola Sturgeon and Labour’s Yvette Cooper in offering to open up his doors.
Critics have warned of the dangers of politicians making ‘glib promises’, especially as Miss Sturgeon later appeared to backtrack when a spokesman said she had ‘no plans’ to welcome refugees into her home.
Scottish councils have already said they believe they can accommodate the 2,000 people Scotland would get as a share of the UK’s commitment.
It is not clear if they could find the space for more than double that number, if the UK Government bowed to pressure from the Church of England to increase its commitment from 20,000 to 50,000.
Speaking on Sky News yesterday, Mr Salmond said: ‘The SNP are working in a pincer movement with the Church of England on Downing Street. Nicola Sturgeon, and the Church of England bishops, are speaking for many people who believe the UK can’t turn its back on people who have arrived in Europe.
Asked if he would open up his home, he added: ‘Yes, and that was the right response for Nicola to give and I’d give the same response.’
Tory MSP Alex Johnstone said: ‘ This grand gesture from Alex Salmond is all very well but you have to wonder if it’s just another publicity drive.
‘The SNP failed to live up to their own rhetoric on refugees when they recently snubbed a UN-backed rehoming scheme.
‘Instead of focusing on the international refugee crisis, which is being handled by the UK government, the SNP should be sorting out problems in their own back yard and cleaning up the mess they are making of Scotland.’
The CoE accused the UK Government of an ‘increasingly inadequate’ response to the migrant crisis.
The bishops wrote: ‘We believe we could feasibly resettle at least 10,000 people a year for the next two years, rising to a minimum of 50,000 in total over the five-year period.
‘Such a number would bring us into line with commitments made by other countries and would be a meaningful and substantial response to the scale of human suffering we see daily.’
A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The UK is the second largest donor in the world after America, helping refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Our total contribution to the Syrian crisis is more than £1.12billion.’