'Almost at a place' where all Afghan refugees will be moved out of hotels by end of August, says Mercer

The Veterans' Affairs Minister says almost all Afghan refugees who were housed in hotels have now been resettled in permanent accommodation.

Johnny Mercer says his team is working flat out to ensure all are out of hotels by the end of August.

The former Army officer, who served in Afghanistan during his time in the military, is now coordinating the Government’s resettlement support for Afghans who arrived under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).

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Mr Mercer spoke in the week that a cross-party law reform and human rights organisation criticised what it said were "significant delays, a lack of transparency and a lack of consistency" in the Government's policy to relocate Afghan staff who supported British Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

The schemes were branded too slow and there were suggestions people desperately fleeing the Taliban have felt forced to make dangerous crossings across the English Channel instead.

The latest figures have revealed that Afghans have been the most common nationality to arrive on small boats in the first half of this year, according to provisional data from the Home Office.

In a report, the charity, Justice, called for a series of improvements to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) which were set up to allow Afghans to resettle in the UK as they feared persecution after the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021.

Speaking exclusively to Forces News, Mr Mercer said the Government was now getting about 400 people a week into settled accommodation across the UK.

He said this was a "huge success", with "local authorities working incredibly hard" and the Afghan task force that he set up, who are "working night and day throughout all this".

He added: "I think it's a policy we can be proud of, how we are integrating this cohort into British society today."

When asked how this had been achieved when balanced against a housing crisis in the UK, Mr Mercer said: "We've opened up pockets of housing that have not been opened up before, for example, service family accommodation that is not being used at the moment

"We've also designed schemes to open up more of the private rented sector by increasing housing allowance and things like that, to enable Afghans to get into the private sector.

"So that the social housing, which we all know is a huge challenge to communities across our country, is not adversely affected.

"There is that enduring pull that you want to see through your duty to these people.

"We saw the commitment these people made to cross that threshold and come and work with western forces to try and bring democracy and peace to Afghanistan. Lots of veterans have talked about it.

"It's quite hard arguing for migrants in this country at the moment but actually if you sit down and really articulate what we owe these people, there is no problem.

"People want to see people like that, who have literally saved British lives in Afghanistan, resettled into the United Kingdom. 

"It's about how you do it and bringing the public and all parts of the government with you.

"I think we've been successful in that but it doesn't end here right, we've still got a job to make sure these people are fully integrated into UK society."