Refugees

Lord Roberts of Llandudno Excerpts

Wednesday 19th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno (LD)]

My Lords, it is a privilege to take part in this debate, and I am grateful to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham for introducing it.

Two reports have been published over the last few days: one is Refugees Welcome?, which we are discussing now, and the other, from the British Red Cross, is Can’t Stay, Can’t Go. Both show that UK immigration and settlement policy is just not fit for purpose. The battles we have fought over the years are still unresolved: the right to work, adequate benefits, indefinite detention and fair treatment of young asylum seekers on reaching 18 years of age. It has been mentioned that there will be a revisiting of asylum decisions after five years, which will mean that, after that period, people who have come here and have been granted asylum can be placed in a situation where they could well be deported. Can the Minister give an assurance tonight that that is not so? The whole immigration process is a labyrinth of confusion—it is time for a complete overhaul and to listen to all concerned organisations so that they can contribute and their voices will be heard in any future legislation.

Tonight is also an opportunity to say thank you to all those have worked to exhaustion and often put their own careers on hold to meet the needs of those fleeing war and destruction. The refugee camps would not exist or function without them. We are eternally in their debt—not only major charities but many smaller bands of people who have really gone to extremes and sacrificed in order to man these refugee camps. At home, too, we have scores of communities where people have opened their hearts and their homes to refugees. A host of projects have assisted with integration. They have done and are doing an incredible job to put ordinary people here in the UK in touch with people who have come from areas of great deprivation.

I happen to be associated with a fairly new organisation, the Citizens of the World Choir. It has people from 16 different nationalities, from A to Z—I thought that Aleppo in Syria would be good for A and that Z could be for Zimbabwe—and these people sing together with people from this country who have been here for many years. So you have many new projects. One of the youngsters who sings with this choir came to see me only today, and I asked him, “What is your dream?”. He wants to be a footballer, so I am thinking of getting together a refugee football team. Perhaps some of your Lordships would like to volunteer to assist with that. We could have young people from different nationalities working together, enjoying themselves together and being given a wee bit of hope at a time of great darkness in their lives. The choir went to sing at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen a week ago, and he said to me, “You know, that was the greatest day of my life”. He is from Afghanistan. We take things for granted. But this is about hope and about giving people a little bit of enjoyment at a difficult time. You see how they appreciate it. I mentioned before how people in Aberystwyth welcome asylum seekers. The asylum seekers gave flowers to the people of Aberystwyth.

Canada has been mentioned once or twice. It has accepted 40,000 refugees. Only last week I saw that there was a baptism in Calgary at which the child was named Justin Trudeau, after the Liberal Prime Minister. There is so much appreciation. People have open hearts—much more so than Governments. Here, we speak about choirs and sports teams and about so much that is done, and we say thank you to those people who have made sacrifices to help folk to integrate. We are all God’s children. They have shoes and these people also have shoes. It is not a case of “you” or “me”; we are all God’s family. Let us ask the Government to abandon their fear of critics. There are critics at the extremes who would deny any positive work with refugees. Let us take the lead from reports such as the one we are discussing this evening and take away the question mark in respect of Refugees Welcome? in this country.