Politics
Home Secretary confirms UK will take in refugees from Gaza
Yvette Cooper said the government was working to bring over injured children and their family members, as well as a number of students on scholarships
September 2, 2025 09:52
Yvette Cooper said the government was working to bring over injured children and their family members, as well as a number of students on scholarships
September 2, 2025 09:52The UK will take in a number of students and injured children from Gaza as refugees, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed yesterday.
She told MPs that the government was acting “to rescue children who have been seriously injured in the horrendous onslaught on civilians in Gaza so that they can get the health treatment they need”.
She went on: “I confirm that the Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival for children and their immediate accompanying family members.
“We have done the same for all the Chevening scholars and are now in the process of doing so for the next group of students from Gaza who have been awarded fully funded scholarships and places at UK universities so that they can start their studies in autumn this year.”
The Chevening Scholarship is a mostly government-funded scheme offering “exceptional professionals” the opportunity to complete a one-year Master’s degree.
Cooper also announced that the government would be opening a broader scheme for refugee students “to come and study in the UK so that we can help more talented young people fleeing war and persecution to find a better future, alongside capped and managed ways for refugees to work here in the UK”.
All of those being received will require Israeli permission to leave Gaza and undergo biometric screening via a third country before travelling to the UK. In the case of the children coming to receive medical treatment, they will also be allowed to bring a limited number of family members with them.
Speaking shortly after Cooper, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that the patients would arrive in the UK “in the coming weeks” and that the government was liaising with both the World Health Organisation to ensure their safe arrival to the UK.
He added that he was “pressing the Israeli government for that to happen as quickly as possible”.
However, there has been some opposition within Westminster to the move to take in refugees from Gaza, which has been rumoured since the start of last month.
In early August, Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick expressed apprehension at the idea of resettling Palestinians in the UK, noting that, as a Home Office minister, he and then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman rejected a similar proposal in 2023.
He wrote in the Telegraph: “The truth is that Gaza’s Arab neighbours are prepared to offer humanitarian support, but consider the idea of inviting Gazans into the country at any scale a risk only a fool would take.”
Yesterday’s announcement on Gaza was part of a wider statement by Cooper on the UK’s border and asylum policy.
This included the suspension of family reunion applications. She told the Commons: “The proportion of migrants who have arrived on small boats and then applied to bring family has also increased sharply in recent years, with signs that smuggler gangs are now able to use the promise of family reunion to promote dangerous journeys to the UK.”
However, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said that the government is not doing enough: “If the Home Secretary really wants to control our borders, and if she really wants to get down the record numbers that have been crossing on her watch, she would back our plan, disapply the Human Rights Act in its entirety to immigration matters, and ensure that every single person crossing the channel is immediately removed.”
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