Tim Finch

The ‘big society’ could offer a solution to the refugee crisis

At first the government was slow to react to the refugee crisis, but now things are starting to happen. It’s less than two weeks since David Cameron said Britain would take in an extra 20,000 Syrian refugees, but this week Theresa May promised that the first of them will be arriving ‘in the coming days’. Given the logistics of resettlement, this turn of speed is impressive.

But if the pace of the response has picked up, the scale of it still remains disappointing. Having ruled out taking in any refugees who’ve already reached Europe, even as an emergency measure, the government really should look to increase the number it’s prepared to take through resettlement from camps in the region. So here’s an idea that would allow for that which should appeal to David Cameron.

In a word, privatise the process.

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