Chris Philp, the immigration compliance minister, outlines the work of the Home Office in safeguarding interpreters, while Barry Young says joined-up thinking is needed and Peter Simm highlights the danger to asylum seekers being told to relocate to Kabul
Interpreters who assisted British forces in Afghanistan have played a fundamental role, standing side by side with those on the frontline of combat. For that we owe a debt of gratitude – one that we are paying, contrary to the claims of Clive Lewis MP (I saw Afghan interpreters translate so much more than words – now they live in terror, 6 August).
There are hundreds of officials working without pause across the country and in Afghanistan to safely and quickly relocate current and former locally employed staff who often risked their lives on our behalf. They are arriving here with their families on a near-daily basis to build a new life. So far, we have enabled over 2,800 people to relocate to Britain, with 1,400 arriving over the last few weeks alone. As we continue to significantly accelerate the pace of relocations due to the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, hundreds more will follow.