2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 14 March 2023.

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Photo of Delyth Jewell Delyth Jewell Plaid Cymru 2:29, 14 March 2023

I'd like to call for a statement, please, from the Government recommitting Wales's stance on welcoming refugees. The ugly and dangerous rhetoric that's been used in Westminster about stopping the routes that desperate people are being forced into using because boats across the channel are the only option available to them when all of the legal routes available have been removed—they've been cut off—is damaging Wales's international reputation by association. I would put on record my disappointment that some Conservative MPs, and some Labour MPs as well, have shared posts online with language that treats refugees as a problem to be solved rather than people to be helped.

Now, we in Wales, we are proud of being a nation of sanctuary. Could a statement please set out what the Government here can do to counteract the damage being done to our standing on the international stage? Because, surely, isn't it time that we stop letting Wales be tarnished by association with the cruelty and the callousness that's coming out of the Home Office.