UKIP's alarming asylum priorities

UKIP's Head of Policy was on the Big Questions yesterday morning. He was asked about the prioritisation of Christian refugees from Syria. Who should come to this country? It is a complex question. How do you decide? Well if Christians are 20% more likely to be persecuted than non-Christians then should there be 20% more Christians who come here? There were arguments put forward that only Christians should be granted asylum (and this was the UKIP position) but others felt that faith should not play any part in the decision-making process.

The UKIP representative felt that it was important to prioritise Christians because we are nominally a Christian country. The word 'nominally' did not seem to matter much, nor did the influence of any non-Christian denomination from within this country. Nicky Campbell pointed out that Muslims are persecuted and genuinely in fear of their lives too. The UKIP answer was that Muslim countries could take the Muslims. Incredible! UKIP aren't looking for the Muslim vote and they aren't going to get it. More importantly they have no inclination to improve racial and religious harmony in this country - and it doesn't seem to matter to them. There will be voters who support a view that there should be disharmony. UKIP seem to be content to just seek out that vote.

Still in yesterday's Big Questions, the UKIP's Head of Policy suggested that Muslims cannot integrate in our society as well as a Christian. He was told in no uncertain terms that 'the answer to discrimination in Syria is not to discrimate in the United Kingdom'. An employment lawyer was 'alarmed' that anyone could hold a discriminatory view like that put forward by UKIP. We should all be alarmed. 

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