Scotland opens doors to more Syrian refugees than any other UK region

Scotland has welcomed more Syrian refugees than any other region in Britain since Downing Street vowed to take in 20,000 displaced people, government figures show. The stats also reveal Britain has taken in a mere 8 percent of this quota to date.

The data, which was published on Friday by the Home Office, exposes a sharp imbalance in local authorities’ acceptance rates of refugees across the country.

The figures reveal a total of 1,602 people have been housed under Downing Street’s Vulnerable Person Resettlement scheme (VPR) to date.

Scottish authorities resettled 610 refugees, housing 68 in Renfrewshire and 53 in Edinburgh. Coventry, in the English West Midlands, was the most welcoming council, resettling a total of 105 Syrians within six months.

Of London’s 33 boroughs, just Islington, Barnet, Camden and Kingston-upon-Thames took in refugees. No local authorities in north-west England – including 10 spread across Greater Manchester – accepted any.

Some 171 refugees, meanwhile, were accepted by local authorities in Humberside and Yorkshire.

Welsh councils accepted 78, while Northern Ireland accepted a further 51.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Home Secretary Theresa May’s constituency, failed to accept a single Syrian refugee.

Likewise, Watford Borough Council, where the Home Office minister responsible for resettling refugees, Richard Harrington, is based, had a zero acceptance rate.