Syrians to test UK welcome on remote island

London: It’s a wonderful life. That’s the message residents of the Isle of Bute were sending out this week as they prepared for 15 families of Syrian refugees to be resettled on the remote Scottish island.

Businesses, councillors and members of the general public on Bute, which is an hourlong ferry journey away from the mainland, plan to give a warm welcome to the influx from refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan. With around 99 per cent of Bute’s declining population being white, their arrival brings a rare taste of multiculturalism to the tiny island.

The people of Bute are doing much to help, including showing Frank Capra’s iconic 1946 Christmas film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ — a tale of selflessness for the benefit of a community — at the local cinema to raise money for their new neighbours. One local businessman, meanwhile, reportedly can’t wait to put on a Syrian night food night in Rothesay’s church hall.

The 80 or so war-weary — and soon to be extremely cold — families set for Bute are among the first batch of around 1,000 refugees arriving to take up their new homes in Scotland before Christmas. Prime Minister David Cameron in September said Britain would take in 20,000 people from camps around Syria in the wake of the refugee crisis engulfing Europe.

Everybody arriving under the vulnerable persons relocation (VPR) scheme has agreed to undergo a two-stage security screening process, but their arrival is not being universally welcomed in the UK, with many questioning the resources required to provide them with housing, medical care and education — and whether they would be given priority over locals.

After negative comments were posted on the website of local newspaper The Buteman, its editor Craig Borland responded by attacking some residents’ ‘narrow-minded bigotry’ in an editorial.

“Bute is a hugely welcoming place, but, through no fault of its own, it’s not very multicultural,” he wrote. “There have, predictably but depressingly, been grumbles about how we should look after our own first, how we should be spending our taxes and so on. But mostly these are just not-very-thinly-veiled ways of people saying ‘I don’t want them in my back yard’.

“Well, I do. I want Bute to be a place where people who come here with little more than the clothes they are standing in can feel safe and at home. I want Bute to be a place known not for narrow-minded bigotry, but for its warmth, and humanity, and willingness to help people with nothing in whatever way it can.”

Other online comments express fears over traditional ways of life being undermined, a potential rise in unemployment and adding to the strain on already overstretched hospitals and schools, raising the question — just how tolerant and welcoming to refugees is the UK?

During a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Conservative MP Steve Double said the Syrian links of the terrorists who attacked Paris last week was leading people to query whether accepting refugees from that country was right.

“It is clear that as a country we face a growing tension between our desire to be compassionate and welcome those who are genuinely fleeing the violence in Syria and our own safety and security,” he said. “Since the events on Friday, I have been contacted by a number of constituents who are very concerned about this issue.”

The online trolling of Scottish minister Humza Yousuf, a Scottish National Party MSP who has campaigned on behalf of Syrian refugees, this week is another concern for those wanting Britain to be open and welcoming.

Yousuf, the Glasgow-born son of immigrants from Kenya and Pakistan, was abused in the wake of the Paris attacks and police are now investigating, but he remains confident the refugees from Syria will be able to live their new lives in Scotland in peace.

“I would like to wish them all the best as they are supported to start their new lives here,” he said. “The practical offers of support from ordinary people across Scotland who want to help ... has been overwhelming.

“These people have fled terror and tyranny and are some of the most vulnerable among those affected by conflict in Syria.”

Isle of Bute Provost Len Scoullar has also been in the news this week after he reportedly voiced fears that a terrorist would be among the group arriving on the island.

“It’s always been a reservation that I’ve had but we just hope these are genuine people and we can do the genuine thing for them,” The Sun quoted him as saying.

Immigration expert Dr Teresa Piacentini, a sociologist at the University of Glasgow, admits recent incidents have led to a decrease in support for resettling refugees in the UK, but remains hopeful the new arrivals will be warmly welcomed.

“I think we can see that there is some evidence on social media about the amount of attention that the refugee situation is getting. So I think there has been a waning of public opinion, unfortunately,” she told the Daily Record.

“But I think that overwhelmingly the welcome will be positive.”

— The writer is a journalist based in UK