Warrington Council prepared to support Afghanistan refugees

This is according to Professor Steven Broomhead MBE, chief executive at Warrington Borough Council.

The Government says the UK will Take up to 20,000 Afghan refugees fleeing the country after the Taliban seized power.

As many as 5,000 could arrive in the country in the first year, with priority being given to women and girls, and religious and other minorities, who are most at risk of human rights abuses and dehumanising treatment by the Taliban, the Home Office has said.

The Home Office has claimed it will be ‘one of the most generous’ resettlement schemes in the UK’s history, but questions remain over how it will work and whether it will be enough to help those in immediate need.

When asked by the Warrington Guardian, Warrington Borough Council says it will be prepared to help once further information is received from central government.

Professor Broomhead said: “We are expecting an announcement from the Government about resettling Afghan refugees.

“We are prepared to respond, and to do all we can, to provide appropriate support once we have further information.”

Warrington Town Hall

Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced fierce criticism from senior Conservatives this morning as MPs returned to Westminster for an emergency debate on the fall of Afghanistan.

In a packed Commons chamber, he defended the final pull-out of British troops, saying it was an ‘illusion’ to think the international military mission could have continued without US forces.

But he faced cries of disbelief when he denied the Government had been unprepared for the lightning takeover by the Taliban, which saw the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani collapse in just days.

“The West could not continue this US-led mission, a mission conceived and executed in support of America, without American logistics, without US air power and without American might,” Mr Johnson said.

“I really think that it is an illusion to believe that there is appetite amongst any of our partners for a continued military presence or for a military solution imposed by Nato in Afghanistan. That idea ended with the combat mission in 2014.”