Home Secretary insists UK will always be generous to refugees

PRITI Patel has insisted the UK and its people will always be “generous to refugees” after being accused of taking a punitive approach to those trying to enter the country.

The home secretary made the claim as she set out plans to help highly skilled people fleeing their homes to get a UK work visa.

Ahead of the controversial Nationality and Borders Bill returning to the Commons for its second reading next week, she said the move showed the Government’s commitment to “safe and legal routes to the UK for people in need of protection”.

The move is unlikely to placate the critics of the Bill, who say it would criminalise asylum seekers through a two-tier system.

Those with “papers or permission to enter” would be allowed to claim asylum, while those without could be jailed and deported.

However, those fleeing repressive regimes often lack such papers, and the UK is trying to limit “safe and legal routes” into the country.

The Bill would also give the home secretary the power to send asylum seekers overseas for processing to “offshore hubs”, potentially including Rwanda, where Denmark is trying to set up a system for its asylum seekers.

Earlier this week, Boris Johnson was accused of bringing shame on the nation after securing a £4 billion cut to the UK’S foreign aid spending despite warnings it could cost lives or drive up numbers of refugees.

Ms Patel has also been under fire for dismissing England football players taking the knee against racism as “gesture politics”.

The new pilot scheme for the highly skilled will focus on those working in industries with shortages, such as engineers and IT professionals.

Applicants would need to speak English and be able to secure a job offer, but help would be provided to overcome the unique obstacles faced by those fleeing conflict.

These might include an inability to access to academic certificates, tax records or job references.

In those cases, the Talent Beyond Boundaries organisation would work with employers and applicants to help secure a work visa.

The Home Office said it would provide £70,000 to support Talent Beyond Boundaries to administer the scheme, with the visas processed as a priority free of charge.

Up to 100 people in Jordan and Lebanon will be helped to receive sponsorship by a UK employer and apply for a visa under the UK’S points-based immigration system.

The route is in addition to the UK’S resettlement routes for refugees in need of protection.

Ms Patel said: “The British people have always been generous to refugees. This is a source of great national pride and will never change. Part of our firm but fair approach is to strengthen the safe and legal ways in which people can enter the UK, including through the UK Resettlement Scheme.

“We will work with the charity Talent Beyond Boundaries and other partners on a pilot project to enable more talented and skilled people who have had to flee their homes, to safely and legally come to the UK and contribute to our country. This country does right by those in need.”

Marina Brizar, UK director of Talent Beyond Boundaries, which already works in Australia and Canada, said: “This programme will empower UK businesses to help unlock solutions for forcibly displaced people, simply by recognising their skills.”

Last week, the UN’S refugee agency warned the UK reforms took an “almost neo-colonial approach” and tried to shift the burden rather than take responsibility.

Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioner for protection at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told a Chatham House briefing of her organisation’s “deep concern” at some of the Bill’s proposals.

She said the UNHCR was “absolutely dismayed” that some of its past supporters were looking at “externalising their responsibilities”, adding: “Western, developed and wealthy countries are now not sharing responsibilities but shifting burdens to these poor countries.”