Iddon: Raising local concerns

As the first refugees brought to the UK under a new Home Office scheme arrive in Bolton, a local MP has urged ministers to think again about how asylum seekers are distributed.

A group of 81 Liberian and Congolese refugees were arriving in Bolton on Monday under a pioneering initiative to resettle some of Africa's most vulnerable refugees in Britain.

The group have been assessed as "exceptionally vulnerable" by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

While Bolton South East MP Brian Iddon welcomed genuine refugees, he told ePolitix.com he was concerned his constituency was taking a disproportionate number of asylum seekers.

"The local authority has agreed to house and care for this group in other ways and the health authority is prepared to treat them, a lot of preparation has been made which I welcome," he said.

"However I am concerned that my constituency, and in particular three areas of it, are taking the vast majority of asylum seekers to Bolton.

"Even members of the area's ethnic communities are beginning to express concern and I would like the authorities to look again at how these people are distributed to avoid problems."

Blunkett's plan

Home secretary David Blunkett launched the project earlier this year in a bid to open a legal route for the most vulnerable, removing the need for them to turn to illegal people traffickers.

Many of the Bolton-bound group fled Liberia during the civil war only to face further persecution in the camps where they took refuge in Sierra Leone.

The Home Office has been working with Bolton council, Refugee Action and a local housing association to help them resettle.

A department spokesman said the housing being provided was already vacant and was not being used at the expense of local people. The Home Office is also funding schooling, training and English language classes.

The refugees also went through a brief "orientation programme" about life in Britain before they left Africa.

Immigration minister Des Browne said: "They have suffered horrific abuse not only in their country of origin but also in their country of refuge, and have been living in unsuitable, squalid conditions.

"They are survivors of rape and torture and many of them have seen the murder of close members of their family."