MP: Excellent news that all British Council contractors able to come to UK
When the Government launched the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme in January 2022, it announced a quota of 1,500 spaces on the element of the scheme open to former British Council contractors, GardaWorld employees and Chevening scholars. However there are considerably more than 1,500 people eligible for this scheme, especially when their similarly eligible dependants are considered. The British Council All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), of which John Baron MP is chair, has been working to persuade the Government to lift the quota. In a Westminster Hall debate yesterday, the Immigration Minister, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, announced this would be the case.
John said,
“After much campaigning from the British Council APPG and others, it is very welcome that the Government will now allow all eligible contractors to come to the UK via the ACRS. This is the right decision, given our debt of honour and gratitude to those who stepped forward and worked with us in Afghanistan.”
“However, there is more still yet to do. Many contractors are currently in the relative safety of Pakistan, but unable to come to Britain until the Government arranges accommodation for them here in the UK. The Pakistani Government is threatening to repatriate Afghans as early as next month. As I, and others, raised with the Minister during the debate, and as he acknowledged, this is something that requires urgent Government attention.”
Notes to Editors:
- The full transcript of the debate is online at: https://shorturl.at/fixU0.
