POLITICIANS must keep the British public on side to ensure refugees are dealt with humanely, the Lords has heard.
Former minister Lord Dubs, who arrived in the UK as a child having fled the Nazis, added he believes public opinion is in favour of offering help despite a “few abusive tweets”.
The Labour peer’s remarks came as the Lords considered proposals to allow refugees in the UK to seek permission to be joined by members of their wider, but still close, family.
Other measures in the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill, moved by Liberal D emo c r at B a r one s s believe refugees as a whole, that public opinion – if informed of what is going on, if informed of the experiences that refugees have been through – is still by and large on our side. ”
Conservative peer Lord Hamwee, include reinstating legal aid for refugee family reunion cases.
Speaking during the Bill’s second reading, Lord Dubs told peers: “I still believe, certainly as regards refugee children but I Cormack offered his support to the Bill and outlined how the UK should act post-Brexit. He said: “We are moving towards Brexit. I acknowledge it, much as I regret it.
“But the one thing we must not move towards is an isolationist position in the continent of Europe.
We must remain a leading nation. We are a leading nation with a proud history, welcoming those who are fleeing persecution.”
He added: “This country has a role which it must not abandon. The family unit is the building block of society and if we can help to have some family units from those countries which are riven by famine, civil war and strife, we will be living up to our proud history."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel