The United Kingdom is set to reopen its refugee resettlement scheme as part of renewed efforts to provide “safe and legal routes” for vulnerable people seeking to settle in the country.
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce the reopening on Monday at the Labour Party’s annual conference.
The scheme will reopen immediately and is initially expected to accept hundreds of refugees, according to the Home Office.
The programme will operate alongside three new community refugee sponsorship routes previously announced by the government.
About a quarter of those expected to benefit from the reopened scheme will be Afghan women and girls and Palestinians, according to the Home Office.
The scheme will be run in partnership with the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Refugee Assistance Project. It follows the closure of an Afghan resettlement route last year.
Charities and non-profit organisations will also be able to apply to sponsor refugees under the new community routes, with the first arrivals expected in about a year.
The government said the number of refugees arriving through the legal routes would eventually rise to the low thousands as irregular migration falls. An annual cap will also be introduced.
The reopening comes as the Labour government faces criticism from some members of the party over proposed changes to immigration rules.
The planned reforms include requiring some migrants who enter the UK through legal routes to wait longer before they can apply for permanent settlement.
Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said last week that she was concerned about some of the proposals, arguing that they “change the goalposts”.
Mahmood is expected to tell the Labour conference that the government remains committed to helping people fleeing war and persecution, but that the process must be controlled and capped.
“I know the British people have not given up on their belief that we should be compassionate, live up to our international obligations, and save the lives of those fleeing war and persecution,” she was expected to say.
“But I also know this process must be capped and controlled, and communities must be ready and able to welcome those who come here.”
