Labour’s concerns resettlement figures ‘seriously underestimated’

Labour has challenged the government’s estimate of how many Afghans eligible for resettlement in the UK are left in the country, as the party’s own MPs are already tracking 5,000 cases.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace previously said he believed between 800 and 1,100 Afghans eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) would be left behind, while around 100-150 UK nationals will remain in Afghanistan, although Mr Wallace said some of those were staying willingly.

But in a letter to Dominic Raab, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said 5,000 potential cases had been identified by Labour MPs alone and warned the government was working with a “serious underestimate”.

The government has said the Arap scheme is open-ended for Afghans

and their families who helped the British effort during the 20-year campaign, and may be at risk of persecution by the Taliban.

Also, the Afghanistan Citizens’ Resettlement (ACR) scheme will allow vulnerable Afghans, such as women and girls, journalists and aid workers, to move to the UK.

The programme will bring 5,000 vulnerable Afghans to the UK in the first year, with up to 20,000 in the long term.

But Ms Nandy said the government should plan for “significantly larger” numbers.

She said: “My office is currently tracking cases related to 5,000 people from Labour MPs alone, including British nationals, high-profile public figures, people with serious disabilities and children separated from their families – which may give a sense of the complexity of evacuation.”

Ms Nandy also raised concerns with the foreign secretary that there had not been agreements with countries neighbouring Afghanistan to accept people wishing to stop there en route to the UK.

She said there was a shortage of safe houses for people in hiding, and aid workers could not use a government pot called the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund to provide them.

Labour’s Lisa Nandy.