British lawmakers: UK not perpared for Syrian refugees

British lawmakers have warned that the country is not prepared to accommodate 20,000 Syrian asylum seekers Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to resettle.

According to a report by the influential Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC), the UK is not ready to accept 4,000 refugees annually over the course of the present parliament.

The members of the committee have described housing as “one of the most difficult issues”, urging the government to allow families to open their homes to the asylum seekers.

“In the last 10 years, the highest number of refugees resettled in the UK in any one year is 1,039 in 2012. The pledge to resettle 4,000 a year is the equivalent of 333 people a month, almost 400 percent more than the highest recorded figure,” Committee chair Keith Vaz was quoted as saying by the British media.

Earlier this year, the British prime minister pledged to accommodate 4,000 Syrian asylum seekers per year over the next five years.

‘No excuse’

However, a London-based political commentator believes that the British government should have been prepared to take in more refugees given "such a small number of asylum seekers" it wants to accept.

“This is such a small number in comparison to other countries such as Germany and Sweden… Britain has not had in recent years such an influx of refugees,” Chris Bambery told Press TV’s UK Desk on Saturday.

“However there is no excuse for the government for not having prepared the settlement of these people and the organization, childcare education, and all the support they will need,” he reiterated.

The opposition Labour Party has already criticized the Tory government’s plan to accept only 20,000 refugees over the next five years.

Earlier in September, Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said taking in 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020 is not sufficient.

Back in July, Prime Minister David Cameron came under fire for his “dehumanizing” comments about refugees tying to enter Britain.

Rights groups condemned his description of migrants in Calais as a “swarm of people” trying to reach Britain.