Harman asks Cameron whether Britain can take more than 4,000 refugees a year

Harriet Harman, Labour’s interim leader, has asked David Cameron whether there is scope for Britain to accept more than 4,000 Syrian refugees a year.

This came after Cameron announced that Britain would accept 20,000 refugees over the next five years. The Government made this decision following public pressure for more refugees to be allowed into the country.

Harman said the Government was doing the “right thing” but went on to say that there needed to be urgent action now. She asked the Prime Minister for further details on his plan, in particular if this mean that promising to take 20,000 Syrian refugees over the course of this parliament would mean just 4,000 people this year.

Many have criticised Cameron for refusing to accept a bigger number of refugees.

Harman went on to ask the Government to rethink it’s refusal to allow any refugees currently living in camps in southern Europe into the country.

During the session,  Cameron also announced that on August 21st the UK carried out a targeted drone strike in Syria, in which they killed three ISIS fighters. This included Reyaad Khan, a 21-year-old from Cardiff and Ruhul Amin, from Britain.

Cameron said that the RAF were justified in carrying out assassinations in another country as Khan posed a threat to the UK

Harman was clear that ISIS posed a threat to the UK. However, she called for the attack to be reviewed by Britain’s independent reviewer of counter-terror laws and by the intelligence and security committee. She also urged the government to publish the legal advice they received on this.