Published in the Maidenhead Advertiser September 2015
In our world of instant news coverage it would be hard not to be aware of the human tragedy of the many children and families who have drowned trying to reach refuge in Europe or the struggle that the survivors have in trying to find a new home.
At the beginning of September David Cameron announced that the UK would live up to ‘it’s moral responsibility’ and accept refugees from Syria and last week Mrs May MP expanded on this to say that the UK would start to receive Syrian refugees ‘within days.’ She also said that the work would ‘need careful and meticulous planning.’
The response from many UK citizens has been that many have been finding ways to help by donating to charity or volunteering to pack aid parcels. However the reality is that the bulk of the work of rehoming refugees has to be lead by local authorities, which is what Mrs May meant by her comment; refugees may need a range of help including housing, counseling or social services.
Last week I looked in vain in the Advertiser for comment from Mr Burbage as to what RBWM is doing to comply with Mrs May’s statement in Parliament. Currently Maidenhead is one of the worst offenders in the country for not offering help to refugees. Despite this being the Home Secretary’s constituency, only 4 refugees have been placed here in recent years. Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne’s constituencies have behaved even worse with 0 and 1 refugee respectively.
Where is the communication and co-working between MP and Council Leadership? Or is it a case of ‘not in my back yard’ or ‘too posh to get their hands dirty?’
In our world of instant news coverage it would be hard not to be aware of the human tragedy of the many children and families who have drowned trying to reach refuge in Europe or the struggle that the survivors have in trying to find a new home.
At the beginning of September David Cameron announced that the UK would live up to ‘it’s moral responsibility’ and accept refugees from Syria and last week Mrs May MP expanded on this to say that the UK would start to receive Syrian refugees ‘within days.’ She also said that the work would ‘need careful and meticulous planning.’
The response from many UK citizens has been that many have been finding ways to help by donating to charity or volunteering to pack aid parcels. However the reality is that the bulk of the work of rehoming refugees has to be lead by local authorities, which is what Mrs May meant by her comment; refugees may need a range of help including housing, counseling or social services.
Last week I looked in vain in the Advertiser for comment from Mr Burbage as to what RBWM is doing to comply with Mrs May’s statement in Parliament. Currently Maidenhead is one of the worst offenders in the country for not offering help to refugees. Despite this being the Home Secretary’s constituency, only 4 refugees have been placed here in recent years. Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne’s constituencies have behaved even worse with 0 and 1 refugee respectively.
Where is the communication and co-working between MP and Council Leadership? Or is it a case of ‘not in my back yard’ or ‘too posh to get their hands dirty?’