Yet another 10,000 Iraqi refugees — whose plight was caused by the illegal and immoral war waged by the Tory/Labour regime in that country — are on their way to Europe in terms of a new plan devised by the European Union.

Britain, as a member of the EU, will not be allowed to prevent these refugees from entering this country and adding to the already staggering burden — estimated by Professor John Coleman from Oxford, to cost the British taxpayers in excess of £8 billion per year — caused by mass immigration.

The agreement to flood Europe with even more refuges came at an EU meeting in Brussels on Thursday, where interior ministers received a new report on conditions at refugee camps in Jordan and Syria. Germany said it would take in about 2,500 of the refugees. Priority will be given to those with medical needs, torture victims, single mothers and religious minorities.

The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, welcomed the EU pledge as a “positive step”, saying it had been pressing the EU for 18 months to offer more protection to vulnerable Iraqi refugees. Sweden has a well-established Iraqi community totalling about 100,000 but says other EU countries should take in a bigger share of Iraqis, who have mostly fled violence and poverty.

A UK Home Office spokesperson said the UK had “already shown its clear determination to support Iraqi refugees through the Gateway Programme, with over 200 people resettled in the UK since April and more arriving in the coming months.”

According to UNHCR figures, Britain held three percent of the world’s refugees as at the end of 2004. Its share of the world’s population is under one percent. Most of the people counted as refugees by the UNHCR are fleeing wars and famines and are not seeking asylum under the terms of 1951 Convention. They naturally flee to the nearest safe country until they can return home. The benefit of dealing with them near to their country of origin is demonstrated by the fact that over 400,000 Afghans were able to move back to their home country from Pakistan (and over 900,000 returned in total) in 2004 alone. By contrast, of approximately 40,000 Afghan refugees in Britain, only about 40 are known to have returned home.