Urgent: UK Must Provide Safe Routes for Palestinian Refugees
18 February 2025
Positive Action in Housing supports calls for a Palestinian resettlement scheme. The UK rightly welcomed Ukrainians fleeing war—why should it be different for Palestinians? Read our statement on why the government must act now.
Positive Action in Housing strongly supports the comments made by the Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, who said she was “deeply troubled” by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's exchanges during Prime Minister’s Questions, in which they discussed a judicial decision allowing a Palestinian family to remain in the UK under a scheme originally designed for Ukrainians.
We are appalled to hear the Prime Minister, a former human rights lawyer, effectively scapegoating Palestinian refugees, whose erasure is being livestreamed across the world.
The UK government rightly launched the Homes for Ukraine scheme to make it as easy as possible for nearly a quarter of a million Ukrainians fleeing war to find safety in the UK. Palestinians are fleeing what Holocaust and genocide scholars, as well as respected human rights organisations, have recognised as genocide and ethnic cleansing. There is no justification for treating them any differently from Ukrainians.
Positive Action in Housing joins calls from the Palestinian community in the UK, urging the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister to urgently establish a resettlement scheme, modelled on the Ukrainian programme, to allow Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank to find safety in Britain.
Instead of offering sanctuary, the UK government is prioritising closing so-called “loopholes”—a disturbing move that denies Palestinian families safety through an existing refugee scheme. As the Lady Chief Justice has rightly pointed out, the government has a duty to respect and protect the independence of the judiciary. Using parliamentary exchanges to undermine legal decisions and deny Palestinian refugees their rights is unacceptable.
The UK cannot selectively apply its humanitarian principles. If Britain truly stands for justice and human rights, it must extend the same safe routes and protections to Palestinians as it did for Ukrainians.
Robina Qureshi