Refugee crisis as millions flee homes and UK lacks plan

Britain lacks a plan to cope with a surge in refugees as people across the world flee their homes, a hard-hitting report warns. The number of people "forcibly displaced" has soared by nearly 190% from 42.7 million in 2012 to 123.2 million and the UK is not ready for the challenge, according to a cross-party group of MPs.

The report will heighten concerns that more people will try to come to Europe and the UK, with Médecins Sans Frontières claiming six in 10 asylum seekers in Calais in 2024 were displaced people from Sudan fleeing the country's civil war. Former Conservative Deputy Foreign Secretary Sir Andrew Mitchell last year warned that unless there is major action to tackle crises in northern Africa the country should wait for "hundreds of millions of feet to walk towards us".

Alp Mehmet of Migration Watch warned the crisis means the "implications for migratory flows are enormous."

Claiming millions could seek asylum, he said: "Has the government given this a moment's thought? I doubt it."

Reform UK Lee Anderson responded to the report from Westminster's International Development committee, which warns of a "global displacement crisis".

He said: "At a time when more people than ever are being displaced by war and poverty, it is clear that the number of Channel crossings and illegal arrivals will only continue to rise. While we sympathise with the millions who would love to live in the UK, the Government must prioritise what is best for its own people.

"Labour's strategy of allowing thousands of unvetted, fighting-age males to enter each day is fuelling crime, placing massive strain on public services, and worsening the housing crisis. Only Reform will leave the ECHR, reclaim our borders, and prioritise our own citizens. If that comes at the detriment of others, so be it."

But Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, said: "We cannot start to build a humane asylum system without first understanding why people - such as those who make Channel crossings - are forced to flee their homes. Most displaced people are fleeing war, persecution, climate change and poverty and are from countries deeply affected by British or European colonialism and foreign policy.

"It is why we must welcome and offer safety to people seeking asylum, not demonise them or make them vulnerable to racist violence to score cheap political points."

The displaced people fall into two main groups - those who are "refugees" who have fled to a different country and more than 80 million who have been forced from their homes but have not entered a different state.

The new report accuses the Government of "stepping back from the world stage" when action is needed.

Sarah Champion, who chairs the committee, warned: "This issue will get worse before it gets better. The Government urgently needs to get a grip on the factors causing displacement, and set out a plan to help address them, before this crisis spins entirely out of control."

The report cites a warning from the World Bank that within 25 years climate change could lead to more than 216 million people being internally displaced.

The committee blasts both the UK and US governments for cutting foreign aid, warning of "catastrophic cuts to international development programming, most notably the near-total obliteration of the United States' international development budget". Britain has cut its overseas development funding from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income.

The MPs say it is "astonishing that the Government has made cuts to gender-specific programming without seemingly understanding the impacts on women and girls".