The Green Party has warned that a lack of funding from the government is preventing councils from offering support to refugees fleeing war torn Ukraine.
Green councillors in Brighton and Lewes say they are desperate to help refugees displaced by the Russian invasion, but their efforts are being hampered by a lack of government funding for affordable housing and resettlement.Zoe Nicholson, leader of Lewes District Council said:“Councils are giving all they can to help people in desperate situations, but unless the government ensures that councils have the resources to help then refugees will be left stranded and without support”.
Hannah Clare, Deputy Leader of Brighton and Hove council said the government had ‘no conception’ of the scale of the problem or the “urgency or the scale of what is needed to save lives now. Councils are doing all they can to support the most vulnerable, including those who are now fleeing the horrific events in Ukraine”.
Adding that councils “are stretched to breaking point and unless the Government steps up its funding, support services including those provided by voluntary sector organisations will not be able to cope”.
The call by the Green Party for more to be done to help support refugees comes as fighting in Ukraine intensifies, with the Russians adopting more brutal tactics that have seen Kherson, a port city in the South of the country fall to the invaders in the past twenty-four hours.
The Ukrainian government estimate that two thousand civilians have been killed since the invasion began a week ago and that more than a million have been forced to flee their homes according to the UN. Two rounds of talks aimed at brokering a ceasefire have so far failed, more negotiations are planned for next week.
The Green Party is calling on the government to lean from its poor handling of the arrival of refugees from Afghanistan late last Summer and provide adequate funding for resettlement and housing to councils. They are also critical of the limited number of refugees the UK is set to accept and the government’s refusal to waive visa rules.
Migration and Refugee Support spokesperson Benali Hamdache said: “We need to match the generosity of our European neighbours by waiving visa requirements for refugees fleeing war and we need money unlocked to provide decent accommodation and adequately fund support services”.
Adding that: “Councils all over the country are ready to step up for Ukrainian refugees, just like they were for Afghan refugees. But the biggest barrier is this Conservative government”.
As the situation in Ukraine moves towards being a protracted guerrilla conflict fought in an urban environment, casualties and the number of civilians displaced is sure to continue to rise. Governments around the world are going to need to develop plans for housing an unprecedented number of refugees, so far, the UK is a long way behind the pace set by its neighbours in doing so.