Barnet Council has responded to lobbying from a local synagogue and other groups by agreeing to accept more Syrian refugees if it can secure government funding.
The council, which has already accepted 50 refugees, has pledged to try to take three refugees a year from the war-torn country over the next ten years.
Rabbi Rebecca Birk, of Finchley Progressive Synagogue, welcoming the news, said “By engaging positively with Barnet Council, we have already secured the resettlement of 50 Syrian families that now call our borough home. Many visit the synagogue each week and have become true members of our community
“Finchley Progressive members strongly believe that we can and must do more to help refugees, as a borough and as a country. I am delighted that Barnet continues to be a leading humanitarian voice on this issue and I hope we can encourage other councils to do the same."
The synagogue has been at the forefront of a Barnet Citizens campaign, along with Middlesex University students and refugee support groups, for the council to act.
Local Conservative MPs Thereas Villiers and Mike Freer were due to join Syrian refugees who have settled in the borough at a Succot service at the synagogue this evening which will celebrate the council’s efforts and also the 8Oth anniversary of the Kindertransport which brought 10,000 children to Britain from Europe before the Second World War.
Charlotte Fischer, of Citizens UK, who has been active in the refugee campaign, said, “The UK cannot turn its back on these children but the government continues to insist that local councils don’t want to help. It is fantastic that Finchley Progressive Synagogue, Middlesex University Students Union and the members of Barnet Citizens have secured a pledge from Barnet council to take more child refugees, sending a clear message to government that our local politicians and communities are ready to help these incredibly vulnerable children.”
Rabbi Danny Rich, Liberal Judaism's senior rabbi, said: “Whilst the Barnet success is to the credit of locals, I am proud of the early pioneering leadership of the Syrian refugee campaign by Liberal Judaism before it was popular."
Liberal Judaism would be holding its fourth year of "Sanctuary Succot" events taking place in Birmingham, Lambeth, Kingston and Leicester as well as Barnet.