Reform-led Lancashire County Council has set out plans to withdraw from the Government’s refugee resettlement schemes, a move that would make it the first council in the country to do so.
The proposal, brought forward by Cllr Joshua Roberts, the Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs, Environment and Communities, would end Lancashire’s participation in the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) and the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP). It is due to go before the council’s cabinet.
Reform’s argument is about where the council puts its resources. The administration says the schemes take homes off an already stretched local housing market and use up council capacity, and that the priority should be Lancashire’s own residents.
Cllr Roberts said: “This proposal is about fairness. Reform UK was elected last May to make sure that the people who live, work and contribute to Lancashire are put at the front of the queue.”
The schemes are funded by central government, and the plan has its critics, but it reflects a clear Reform position: a council’s first duty is to the people who live in it. Burnley and Padiham’s county councillors are part of the administration taking that stance.