The UK Government is to send 40 officials to Greece to help speed up the removal of people seeking asylum.

Responding to the news, Refugee Council Head of Advocacy Dr. Lisa Doyle said: “Decision on people’s asylum claims can be life or death and can’t be hastily pre-judged for political convenience.

“The Government should be focusing its efforts on identifying people in Greece with family members in the UK, and ensuring their swift and safe transfer here. Instead it seems set on making the continent as inhospitable and unwelcoming to refugees as possible.”

Last September European countries agreed to relocate 160,000 refugees away from Greece and Italy to help ease the pressure. Over a year on, fewer than 8,000 refugees have been relocated. Britain has refused to help at all.

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