With Plaid Cymru spending the last few weeks reminding everyone of their pro-migration bona fides – claiming Wales should become a ‘Nation of Sanctuary’ and slamming the government’s visa policy – Guido thought it was worth checking their own record on asylum seekers to make sure they put their money where their mouth is. Given they’re supposedly “commit[ed] to easing the experience of migrants and people seeking asylum“, surely the Plaid-controlled local authorities would be the blueprint for everyone else to follow. Not so much…
The UK Government's visa requirements are frustrating efforts to make Wales a safe haven for Ukrainians fleeing war@BenMLake today called for a visa processing facility at Cardiff Airport so that refugees can get to Wales quickly and safely
🇺🇦🏴 pic.twitter.com/OFDxcvB6pC
— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) March 7, 2022
According to official asylum and resettlement data, Plaid-led local authorities supported a grand total of 5 asylum seekers between 31st March 2017 and 31st December 2021. Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Anglesey and Gwynedd are either Plaid controlled or have a Plaid leader (Gwynedd), and yet only Ceredigion and Gwynedd supported 2 and 3 asylum seekers respectively in the last five years. The other authorities don’t even appear on the database. Presumably because pressing ‘0’ for five years’ worth of data is a waste of time…
An average of one a year. Still, if they want to bump those numbers up, here’s a good place to start…
