I have received a few emails from people in my North Kincardine council ward, asking what the local authority is doing to help the refugees streaming into Europe. I have to say I have been disappointed by the stance taken by the UK Government. We should be extending a hand of welcome, be thankful it isn’t us, and not leave people to drown. How uncaring is that?
Yes, the UK has been very generous by opening our wallets to help provide camps and so on in the Middle East. But that doesn’t help those who have left the camps.
The UK Government has to take the lead role on this. Of course the UK and Scottish governments and local government need to work together to tackle the crisis in a co-ordinated approach.
The first step is to identify how we can help in Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council is seeking to clarify what this might mean in practice.
I and my fellow Liberal Democrat councillors are pressing council officers and chief executive Jim Savege on what actions they are considering. Here is what Jim Savege told me yesterday: “There was a summit held on this yesterday organised by the Scottish Government – COSLA was representing local authorities. We’ve been asked to set out how we could help in terms of accommodation and support etc – I think it will be early next week when it becomes clearer what we will be doing, co-ordinated with and through COSLA.”
Locally across the North East there are various initiatives collecting clothes and blankets supporting the humanitarian effort through people such the New Hope Trust.
Capacity is of course difficult to ascertain when we don’t yet have a sense of the approach that the UK Government is hoping to take or the level of funding that will be made available to support councils and their partners, whether from the UK or Scottish Government.
According to Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie who attended the summit, the First Minister did say that the Scottish Government will be providing financial and practical support to local authorities that are able to participate.
The Scottish Government now intends to convene a task force to look at the issues in more detail and outline the partnership approach that they would wish to take in Scotland.
As a Liberal Democrat council group, we support calls for Aberdeenshire to do its best in welcoming refugees to our area and to help them start a new life in peace and security.