First Syrian refugees arrive under United Kingdom resettlement plan

Councils across England and Wales have called on the Government to “urgently resolve” how the refugee relocation scheme will work amid concerns of the impact on schools and housing.

The first wave of refugees have already arrived this week – but the Local Government Association said it wanted a clear, detailed plan before going any further.

Details of the exact number of arrivals or where they are being resettled are unclear.

In the latest development, European Union ministers have approved a controversial plan to relocate 120,000 migrants across the continent over the next two years.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Mr Blunt said: “Absolutely we have a moral right”.

This will be separate to the normal Home Office Asylum scheme, with an additional 20,000 refugees being accepted UK-wide over the next five years.

The deadlock comes less than a week after the home secretary told the House of Commons that refugees would begin arriving this week. “We need to see concrete action aimed at immediately alleviating suffering and sharing responsibility for protecting refugees across Europe and of course Britain must play its part”. Asylum is different from immigration and the Prime Minister has to keep emphasising that point.

They will be redistributed to other countries in order to take the strain off places on the route into Europe.

BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said the first arrivals amounted to a “handful” of refugees and eventually the United Kingdom would have to take about 400 refugees a month in order to meet its 20,000 target by 2020.

“We are working closely with the UNHCR and local authorities to make sure we are ready to welcome more Syrians who desperately need our assistance”, the government department said in a statement.

After devastating pictures caused the public to pressure David Cameron into a U-turn, the government agreed to accept the Syrians as part of the vulnerable persons resettlement scheme.